SPEECH 



■/ 

HON. J l^'^EARCE, OF \IA11YLAND, 



THE GOVERNMENTAL ADMINISTRATION OF AFFAIRS IN CALIFORNIA, AND 
ON THE GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES GENERALLY. 



DELIVEREB 



m THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 29, 185-2. 



i/i WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 
1852. 



SPEECH 



The Senate, as in Committee of tlie Whole, resumed the 
consideration of the bill from the House of Representatives 
to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the service 
of the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1852. 

Mr. PEARCE rose and said: 

The Senate, I trust, will pardon me for departing 
from the line of debate strictly proper at this stage 
of the discussion. I consider it a necessity which 
I cannot disregard to do so. Upon the introduc- 
tion of this bill, remarks were made by the chair- 
man of the Committee on Finance, [Mr. Hunter,] 
and by the Senator from California, [Mr. Gwin,] 
inculpating the present Administration. Those 
charges have gone forth to the public. They are 
nov/ making some impression upon the public 
mind; and, if not answered promptly, those im- 
pressions may become fixed and ineradicable, so 
that no force of fact or argument may suffice to 
remove them. The Senate knows that I have not 
been in the habit of indulging in what is called 
partisan debate. I take no pleasure in crimination 
or recrimination, but the task I have before me is 
not that of a partisan debate. My purpose is to 
vindicate men of pure and honorable character, 
engaged zealously in the faithful discharge of duties 
as arduous as they are important. 

The Senator from California has made an open 
and avowed attack upon the Administration. He 
has charged them not merely with official negli- 
gence, but with the toleration of various abuses, 
and even with the reward of them. He has en- 
deavored to fix upon this Administration the re- 
sponsibility of the errors, real or imaginary, of 
General Taylor's administration, although the 
Senate must perceive with how little justice such 
an attempt as that can be made. As well might I 
utidertake to charge upon the Administration of 
Mr. Polk the frauds, peculations, and defalcations, 
enormous in amount, and almost incalculable in 
number, which were perpetrated under the ad- 
ministrations of his DeiTiocratic predecessor. The 
Senator from California has pointed out specific 
instances of violation of duty, and he has attempted 
to sustain his charges by a documentary display 
of several columns. It will be for the Senate to 
judge, in the sequel, whether the success of this 



attack is equal to the rashness which prompted it, 
or the vigor with which it has been prosecuted. 

The Senator from Virginia was more moderate 
in the tone of his speech, which I had not the 
pleasure of hearing, not being in the city when it 
was delivered. As reporteil in the Globe, I be- 
lieve he disclaimed any purpose of assailing the 
Administration. Sometimes he bestowed faint 
praise upon the head of a Department: then, again, 
he might be said to " hint a fault, and hesitate dis- 
like.'* At another place, bespoke of abuses, and 
of a system of mal-administration, which the mem- 
bers of the present Cabinet were tardy in per- 
ceiving, and feeble in correcting. He fancied that 
the reforms which the present Administration had 
undertaken came too late; that they did not go 
far enough; tliat they did not strike at the root of 
the matter; that they reoitired the stimulus of 
Congressional criticism. He vsaid that he thought 
these gentlemen were not born to remedy the 
evils which had prevailed, and which still afflict 
the public service. All this was said on tlie eve 
of a presidential election. Now, sir, we know 
how greedily the minions of party catch at accu- 
sations; and how, particularlj' at a time like this, 
such a speech as that, coming from the Senator 
from Virginia, who, during a very considerable 
experience in this body, has earned a reputation 
for ftirness and candor, m'H-hi, from that circum- 
stance alone, derive peculiar point. I knov/ not, 
indeed, whether, if unanswered, his speech would 
not operate with even more injustice upon the 
Administration than the more open attack of the 
Senator from California. I know that it will, in 
some respects, require a more critical analysis. I 
shall endeavor to give it that analysis; and I hope 
1 shall be able to satisfy, the Senate of many errors 
into which he has fallen, as well as to expose the 
more palpable mistakes of the Senator from Cali- 
fornia. I shall commence with th.e remarks of the 
latter Senator, not confining myself, however, 
entirely to the defense of the present Administra- 
tion, hut adverting, as briefly as may be, to the 
charges brought against the administration of Gen- 
eral Taylor. 

I had supposed, Mr. President, that the admin- 



istration of General Taylor might have escaped 
these assaults. That gallant, honest, artless old 
patriot has gone down to the tomb. There he 
sleeps, as 

" Sleep tile br;ive, who sink to rest, 
By all tlieir country's wishes blest." 

The members of his Cabinet no longer hold 
official stations. Not one of them has an Execu- 
tive office or a seat in either House of Congress. 
Not one of them is here to repel injustice, or even 
to furnish his friends with the means of defending 
him. I do not knovir that I shared very largely 
in the confidence of that Cabinet. Still there were | 
gentlemen in it with whom I recognized the rela- ! 
lions of personal friendship; and F will not permit | 
them now or hereafter to be assailed erroneously, [ 
and therefore unjustly, when I have the means of ' 
their defense in my hands.. | 

The Senator from California started with a | 
charge which, if the Senate alone were concerned, 
I should not think it worth while to refute. But | 
these things make an impression upon the public 
when not contradicted. Hence it is that I notice 
them. The fir.st charge the Senator makes, is, ! 
that very soon after General Taylor's inaugura- j 
lion, he selected an agent to visit California upon ' 
public business — that the gentleman whom he se- | 
lected had been, during the preceding fall, elected a ! 
member of the House of Representatives — that his ; 
term of service commenced on the 4th of March, \ 
although the Congress in which he was to take ; 
his seat, would not, by law, meet until the follow- I 
ing December; and he considered this to be a vio- { 
lation of that provision of the Constitution which ; 
declares that " no person holding any office under ' 
the United States, shall be a member of either \ 
House during his continuance in office." Now, j 
what member of the Senate is there who supposes I 
that an agency, such as that conferred upon Mr. j 
Thomas Butler King, was an nffice within the 
meaning of the Constitution? What is an office.' 
It is a thing created 61/ lain. But an agency, de- | 
rived from and created iiy Executive appointment, I 
is not a thing created by law. It is a very differ- 
ent thing, and does not come within the letter or the 
.spirit of theconstitutional provision. Besides, these 
are not new things. The Senator from California 
must rememlier that there has been scarcely a 
President since the foundation of the Government 
who has not at some time or other selected an 
agent for the performance of duties very similar 
to those which were intrusted to Mr. King. Why, 
not to go any further back than the time of Gen- 
eral Jackson, who does not remember that he 
deputed a gentleman of this city to go to Texas 
for nearly the same objects as those which Mr. 
King was charged with in California? Mr. Polk 's 
administration, as the gentleman from Vermont 
[Mr. Ui'iiam] suggests, appointed a Mr. Hopkins 
as Executive agent to Paraguay- It is Jiot tin 
uncommon thing at all. It is not necessary for 
me to multiply instances to the Senate. The Sen- 
ate know that there is nothing extraordinary in 
it — no startling novelty about it — nothing but 
what is common and what is ]iroper. 

But the Senator, not content with charging the 
then President of the United States with violating 
the Constitution by this appointment, suggested 
that there was another enormity — that Mr. King 
was allowed eight dolhtrs a day and traveling ex- 
penses while away, in addition to hia pay as a 



rnember of Congress. I take it for granted that 
the gentlendan did not mean to say that he was to 
receive pay as an agent while at the same time he 
was receiving pay as a member of Congress, for 
tliat would be a thing physically impossible, and 
directly contradicted by the letter of his instruc- 
tions. His appointment was to have effect, and his 
pay was to be receivable, only while he was absent 
on this mission, and was to cease immediately upon 
his return. He was only a member of Congress 
elect — not qualified, not having taken his seat — 
not entitled to a dollar's pay as a member of Con- 
gress until he should return from the scene of his 
agency in California; and, in point of fact, he 
never took his seat in the House of Represent- 
atives at all, but resigned it while still on the Pa- 
cific coast. This " additional pay," therefore, of 
which the Senator speaks, was merely that com- 
pensation which, as agent, he might receive during 
the recess. It did not multiply compensation, as 
he seems to suppose. 

But it is a still graver matter of charge with the 
Senator from California that Mr. King, thus ap- 
pointed a mere agent of the Executive, was 
intrusted with entire control over the Army and 
Navy and Treasury of the United^tates. They 
were all, he says, placed at his disposal; the mili- 
tary and naval commanders in California had no 
discretion; they were actually fettered by the ca- 
pricious will, if he chose so to exert it, of Mr. 
King. Now, how does the Senator derive this? 
He said that he would prove it by documents, and 
he undertook to do it; I will show with how little 
success. 

Mr. King was appointed an agent, and we must 
look to the letter of instructions given to him by 
the Secretary of State, in order to ascertain the 
scope of his authority. In a letter of Mr. Clay- 
ton, the late Secretary of State, Mr. King is in- 
formed of his selection as an agent, and of the 
nature of the duties which he was expected to per- 
form. He was sent out to California to convey 
information to the people of that Territory, and 
to acquire information for the satisfaction, not of 
the President alone, but of the wholeGovernment. 
He was instructed to convey to the people of the 
Territory the assurance of the President's sincere 
desire to sustain them in the full enjoyment of 
their rights and property, to secure to them all 
the advantagesof citizenship of the United States, 
and particularly to assure them of the disposition 
of the President to sustain and protect them in 
the establishment of any government which of 
their own free choice they might think proper to 
establish. He was alsotbrected to ascertain what 
was the population of the country; what were 
its products and resources, particularly its min- 
eral value; how many Mexican citizens had with- 
drawn from that Territory since the treaty of 
peace; how many had signified their intention to 
necoine citizens of the United States; and to ac- 
quire information more especially in regard to the 
Indian tribes. Then, the only sentence in this 
letter of instructions, tlie solei-.harter of his power, 
which by any ingenuity the Senator can wrest 
from its simple and obvious meaning to liis pur- 
pose is tliis: 

" You are fully atitliorizod to ooiiler with our military 
and naval coniinHiider!) within those Territories, who will 
he instruftiul to assist you in the accomplish meat of the 
oljocts of your mission." 



Does not the Senate perceive that this aid and 
assistance which he was to obtain from the mil- 
itary and naval commanders, was merely such as 
was auxiliary to the purpose mentioned in his let- 
ter of instructions ? Why, if the Senator cnn trans- 
mute that simple and proper sentence from its 
palpable meaning, he possesses some logical al- 
chemy, the secret of which is with himself alone. 
I venture to say that no Senator here has any 
such hocus pocus. The military and naval com- 1 
manders of California never dreamed of putting 
such an interpretation on that clause as the Sen- 
ator from California has done. I would not will- 
ingly impute it to them, except on evidence very- 
different from that which the Senator has adduced. [ 

The Senator has quoted also the letter of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasurj' addressed to the collector of 
customs in California, which is a mere direction 
to aid Mr. King, and to be guided by his advice i 
*' in the conduct of all proper measures within the 
scope of his instnictions.'^ And these I have shown, i 
from the letter of those instructions, to be the com- 
munication of certain specified purposes of the 
Administration, and the acquisition of information 
desirable and important to the Executive, as well 
as needful for our legislation. A very different tning 
from (as the Senator says) placing at Mr. King's 
disposal the Army, Navy, and Treasury of the 
United States. 

It must be very palpable, I think, that Mr. 
Clayton 's letter of instructions did not confer upon 
Mr. King any such power over the Army, Navy, 
and Treasury of the United States, nor even a 
qualified power; that it was nothing more nor less 
than such an instruction to the officers in Califor- 
nia as any Administration, sending out an agent 
to a new and distant possession of our own, would 
give under similar circumstances. If he had given 
less, he would have given them no instructions at 
all to aid Mr. King, and would have thrown him 
entirely upon his own resources. 

The Senator, however, undertakes to sustain 
this charge by a reference to a letter of General 
Persifer F. Smith, who was in command of the 
military forces in California. It seems that that 
gentleman, sometime about the month of June, 
1849, notified the Secretary of War, that in order 
to facilitate the accomplishment of Mr. King's 
purposes, he had got up an exploring expedition; 
and that they were going to visit the habitable 
parts of the State, in order that Mr. King might 
ascertain by personal inspection what was the 
condition of the population, what were the products 
and resources of the country. That expedition 
was organized for this purpose, and this alone. 
It is just what General Smith (who by the by is 
not only an accomplished ofiicer, but an unim- 
peachable Democrat) was authorized to do, even 
without such instructions. Nay, more, it was that 
which it was his duty to do, whether he had in- 
structions to that effect or not. He was in com- 
mand of the whole of that department. What 
Government, on the acquisition of a new, and, 
for much the most part, unknown territory, 
has failed to take all the means in its power 
to ascertain its resources, to ascertain all those 
particulars of its condition, which are necessary 
for full information in order to the just and in- 
telligent legislative action which Congress itself 
would necessarily be obliged to take in regard to 
it? It will be seen, by reference to the letter of 



General Smith, that the Senator from California is 
not borne out in his assertion. He notifies the 
Secretary of War that he has got up this expedi- 
tion, and then says: 

" It is hoped that the character of the countrj", its capa- 
bility of cultivation, its products in minerals and timber, 
will be so far ascertained as to furnish all the data neces- 
sary for legislation." 

That is the proof which the gentleman furnishes 
that the President of the United States had under- 
taken to transfer his constitutional authority, as 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to 
Mr. King, to do what he had no constitutional 
authority to do — that is, to put at Mr. King's dis- 
posal the Army, Navy, and Treasury of the Uni- 
ted States, as the Senator says. If there was ever 
a non sequitur, I think the Senate will perceive it 
here. 

Then the Senator objects to another proceeding 
of Mr. King. In support of his assertion, he re- 
fers to the fact that Mr. King addressed a note to 
the commander of the naval forces on the Pacific, 
asking that the steamer Edith, then in the service 
of the Department, should be used for the purpose 
of transporting members of the convention, which 
was about to assemble at Monterey, to make a 
constitution for the State of California, to that 
\ point. This is proof that the Navy of the United 
I States was placed at the disposal of Mr. King! 
Now, if we suppose that the assembling of the 
convention, the fi-aming of the constitution, and 
[ the organization of the State government was a 
' proper thing — and I take it the Senator from Cal- 
ifornia would be the last man in the world to deny 
1 it, for he took an active part in it, and is enjoying 
the fruits of it with very great credit to himself 
! and satisfaction to his associates — then there was 
no impropriety on the part of the naval commander 
I in sending the Edith to convey these gentlemen to 
I Monterey. Steam-boats are like ttilent — they rust 
unused. The Edith would be better employed in 
proceeding up the coast to Monterey, with the 
members of the convention, than if she had been 
I lying idle in port 

I think, when I speak on this point, the Sena- 
' tor will recognize my friendly regard for himself. 
; I am really undertaking to defend him, quite as 
much as Mr. King, and the commander of the 
naval forces. I feel that I should be doing but an 
\ act of justice to him to defend this act; and I think 
that he was just about as much responsible for the 
employment of the steam-boat as was Mr. King 
himself. It may seem a little curious, that the 
Senator, at this time of day, should have found 
that there was anything improper in it, and should 
' have charged it upon the Administration of Gen- 
eral Taylor, as one of their iniquities, that the 
steamer Ediih had been employed in this service, 
j and had been lost — for she was wrecked on the 
I voyage. By the by, I would remark in passing, 
i that the cost of the Edith was not ^120,000, as the 
: Senator supposed in his speech, but was only 
] §3,3,000. I have ascertained that fact, beyond all 
I doubt. I have also found, in the Navy Depart- 
I ment, among some papers which were being copied 
there for the information of Congress, a letter fi-om 
I an officer of the Navy on the Pacific coast, which 
conveyed to me the first information I had of an- 
i other fact, which I am about to state. 

It seems that the Secretary of the Navy had sent 
out Lieutenant Meade to take the command of this 







identical steam-boat; but Commodore Jones hav- 
ir)cr given tlie command of tlie steamer to another 
officer, he did not think proper to withdraw her 
from that officer's command, and assign her to 
Lieutenant Meade. Lieutenant Meade complained 
of this as gross injustice, and addressed a letter to 
the Secretary of iJie Navy, in the course of which 
he aggravates the complaint by the assertion, 
which I presume the Senator from California rec- 
ognizes as proper, that he was applied to by the 
Senator himself, Hon. William M. Gwin, to get 
the command of this identical steam-boat to per- 
form this very service. It is not necessary to read 
the letter, but that is the fact which is stated by 
Lieutenant Meade. Now, then, it seems that Mr. 
King only did that which the Senator himself 
wished to be done. 

Mr. GWIN. Does the letter state that 1 made 
application to Lieutenant Meade to get this steam- 
boat sent to San Diego ? 

Mr. PEARCE. I will read the letter; perhaps 
that will he the best plan. It is dated October 28, 
1851. It will be seen that it is not got up for this 
occasion; that is manifest. The extract from the 
letter relating to the point is as follows: 

* * * " While at San FranciM-o, the delegates of the 
convention elected to t'rauie a constitution tor tlie State of 
California, through the honorable William M. Gwin, United 
States Senator, called on nie to volunteer to take tliem to 
Monterey. I clieertully asked Commodore Jones, stating 
that I could be ready in six hours with the Edith, and land 
them in ten hours after I should have an offing ; the Editli 
being ship rigged, I had nothing to do but to trice up her 
propeller and use her sails. I requested Conmiodore Jones 
to let me have Lieutenant MeCormick, then temporarily 
commanding her, as my first lieutenant, as Lieutenant 
Knox, commanding Massachusetts steamer, had Lieutenant 
C. Vanalstine as his executive officer, of the same date of 
service, but registered for more sea service than Lieutenant 
MeCormick. Com. Jones refused me this request, although 
my application was aided by the influence of Senator Gwin, 
and others of equal distinction. I then felt exceedingly 
mortified, and sul)si'(|Ment proceedings have all tended to 
increase my niortllicaiion. The loss of the Edith followed 
quickly upon this refusal of Commodore Jones; and since 
my return liotne, my name having been vlentifieil with the 
command of the Edith, many persons believe that she was 
lost through my carelessness, and while under my charge." 

Mr. GWIN. If the Senator will permit me, 
I will state the facts of the case as they actually 
occurred. There were in San Francisco a number 
of the members elect to the convention, which was 
to assemble at Monterey, on the 1st day of Sep- 
tember. The only certain mode of conveyance 
from San Francisco to Monterey was the mail 
steam-ship, which wa.s to leave tiie former place 
on the 1st, and arrive at the latter on the 2d of 
Septemijer. It was important that a quorum of 
the memljers of the convention should meet on the 
day ap|iolnted for its assembling. Application 
was made to the agent of the mail steam-shi}i com- 
pany, to leave San Franci.-3co on the last day of 
August, so that the memljers of the convention 
then in that city could reacli Monterey on the morn- 
ing of the 1st of September. This was refused. 
General Riley, the de fnclo Governor, had given 
orders, if necessary, to have a vessel plai:ed at the 
disposal of such memliers of the convention as 
chose to avail themselves of such a mode of c(m- 
veyance, to proceed with them to Monterey. We 
made no ap]iIication to liim, or any one else. 
When conveyance was iiroflfered, we preferred 
going in a steam-shin, to the uncertainty of a sail 
vessel. 

Mr. PEARCE. I do not charge any olTense at 



all in the act of applying for the boat, or that of 
using her for this purpose. 

Mr. GWIN. We ii)ade no application. A 
conveyance was offered us by the de facto govern- 
ment. We merely expressed a preference, if any- 
thing was said on the subject, for a steamer or a 
sail vessel. 

Mr. PEARCE. 1 do not charge it as any of- 
fence at all on the Senator. On the contrary, I 
am disposed to justify him, and the head of the 
de facto government, who, after all, was but an 
officer in the Army of the United States. But then 
the Senate will recollect that this is a thing which 
the Senator has charged as an offense. He has 
spoken of it as a thing that was iinproper. He 
has spoken of the loss of the Edith (which he es- 
timated at ;g>120,000) in consequence of the requi- 
sition of Mr. King, and the service upon which 
she was sent. I agree with liim that that action 
was entirely proper. I do not find fault with him 
any more than with Mr. King, for making the 
request, I dare say I should myself, under the 
same circumstances, have done the same thing. 
But what I do find fault with, or rather what I 
complain of — for I have no right to find fault with 
a Senator — is that he should use this to prove that 
the navaf power of the United States was (ilaced 
at the absolute disposal of Mr. King, and com- 
plain of it as an abuse when it had his own sanc- 
tion. If that vessel was .sent upon a service which 
was entirely proper, I do not see why it is that he 
can charge her loss to the Government, as a thing 
resulting from a wrong act on the part of Mr. 
King, which has swelled the deficiencies. 

Mr. GWIN. If the Senator will read the whole 
of Lieutenant Meade's letter, and also Commo- 
dore Jones's letter in reply, he will see the Com- 
modore states that Mr. King, exercising the power 
conferred on him by the President, had ordered 
the Edith on another service. 

Mr. PEARCE. I should be very glad if the 
Senator would turn me to some evidence of any 
such expression as that which he supposes Com- 
modore Jones has used. I have looked through 
the documents without being able to find it. 

Mr. GWIN. I will bring it to thenoticeof the 
Senator before he is done. 

Mr. PEARCE. Very well, sir. It certainly 
is not in the extract from Commodore Jones's 
letter, which the Senator read the other day. I 
will not read it again to the Senate. But in glan- 
cing over that letter, I do not see any such lan- 
guage as that which the Senator attributed to 
Commodore Jones. 

Mr. GWIN. That is not the letter in which he 
uses it; but he did use it. I have the letter in my 
committee-room. I did not expect the Senator 
would have the door to day, or 1 would have had 
it at my seat. 1 will read it before the Senator 
closes his remarks. 

Mr. PEARCE. And if it were so, I can only 
say that Commodore Jone.s must have fallen into 
a inost extraordinary i)lunder, and have miscon- 
ceived very much tiie instrui^tions of his Govern- 
ment, and that they are not to be held lial>le for any 
inisconcejition of his, however gross or improper. 

I pass, now, to tlie next charge. The Senator 
complains that Mr. King, having been elecietl a 
member of that Congress which liegan its session 
in December, 184!), was, during the recess of the 
Congress, appointed collector of San Francisco ; 



and he seems to think that this was a violation of 
the Constitution. The Constitution does provide 
that no member of Congress shall be appomted to 
any office created during the time for which he 
was elected, or the emoluments of which have 
been increased during that time. That is true. 
However, I will not go into the consideration of 
the point fully. I will abbreviate what I have to 
say upon it, since I might otherwise violate the 
rule of secrecy in regard to Executive business. 
I wish to state the simple facts of the case. The 
Senator has said that Mr. King's nomination was 
withheld from the Senate during the continuance 
of the Congress of which he had been elected a 
membpr, and was not sent in to the Senate until 
after the 4th of March. 

Mr. GWIN. It was not sent in time to be 
acted upon at that .session. 

Mr. PEARCE. I have given the statement of 
the Senator as I find it in his reported speech. It 
is said that the nomination of Mr. King was not 
sent in until after the 4th of March, 1851. The 
fact is it was sent in to the Senate during the con- 
tinuance of the identical Congress for which Mr. 
King had been elected, and several days before 
the close of its last session, and it was perfectly 
competent for the Senate to act upon it before the 
adjournment. I mention this to show that there 
was no intention on the part of the Executive to 
prevent the Senate making any use they could 
fairly make of any constitutional objection to the 
appointment. It was submitted in time to be 
acted upon by the Senate, having been sent in 
near the close of February, 1851. If it was un- 
constitutional, was the Senate to be prevented from 
refusing to confirm it, because it had been delayed 
in order to avoid that constitutional objection? 
That would furnish an additional reason with 
every member of the Senate for rejecting it. If, 
in addition to a violation of the Constitution, there 
was the meanness of endeavoring to avoid the ap- 
plication of a constitutional objection, it would 
have been demanded by every sense of propriety 
that the Senate should mark their reprobation of 
such conduct by the rejection of the nomination. 
Although, as the injunction of secrecy has not 
been removed, I am not at liberty to go into a 
consideration of all the facts and circumstances 
which weighed with the Senate when that nomi- 
nation was pending; it is sufficient for me to say 
that he was confirmed by a Senate a majority of 
whose members were his political opponents. If 
I were at liberty to speak about that which has 
transpired in Executive session, from which the 
injunction of secrecy has not been removed, 1 
should ask the Senator from California whether 
he did not himself sustain the nomination of Mr. 
King. It is in the power of that Senator to move 
that the injunction of secrecy be taken off. If that 
be done, then the country can see who it was that 
sustained the nomination. 

Mr. GWIN. If the Senator will permit me, I 
will state the facts of this case also. I never sus- 
tained the nomination of Mr. King, until he was 
renominated after the 3d of March, 1851. The 
Congress to which he had been elected, ceased to 
exist on that day. Mr. King was appointed be- 
fore the assembling of Congress, in December, 
1850. His nomination was held back from the 
Senate until the last, or next to the last, day of 
February. We had but one Executive session 



afterwards, when the nomination was referred to 
the Committee on Commerce, and never reported 
to the Senate. It is well known that the action of 
the Senate on the river and harbor bill was near 
defeating most of the appropriation bills, and left 
a vast amount of Executive business undisposed 
of, a portion of which was Mr. King's nomina- 
tion. We were called into Executive session by 
the President on the 4th of March, and to that 
session Mr. King was renominated. It was well 
known that I objected to Mr. King's nomination, 
not on personal, but constitutional grounds; and 
would have opposed it, if it had been acted on be- 
fore the 3d of March, 1851, and I entertain no 
doubt but he would have been rejected. This op- 
position was known to exist, and with this knowl- 
edge, the nomination was withheld to the last day a 
of the session, so that we had no opportunity of 
testing the sense of the Senate on its constitution- 
ality. 

Mr. PEARCE. The only difference between 
the Senator and myself is, that I think if the con- 
stitutional objection weighs at one time, it does at 
all times, and that the obligation is stronger to 
reject the nomination, if such circumstances were 
employed in the vain and culpable endeavor to 
prevent the application of that constitutional ob- 
jection. I pass from that, however, as too clear 
to admit of a question. 

The next charge that I find made by the Sena- 
tor from California is, that a certain General John 
Wilson was appointed Indian agent to the Salt 
Lake; that he was sent out there by General 
Taylor's administration, at a great expense to the 
Government; and that he went with all his family 
and property — an emigrant, going not at his indi- 
vidual expense, but at the expense of the Govern- 
ment. In connection with this, there are various 
other charges made by the Senator. Now, there 
is nothing novel in all this. The administration 
of General Taylor was not the first Administration 
that sent out civil agents under the protection of a 
military escort, whose outfit was at the public ex- 
pense. It is no new and startling abuse. It is not 
a thing recently found out. I havea memorandum 
of several escorts furnished to agents — as many, I 
believe, under the preceding Administration as 
under this. I find, for instance, that transport- 
ation and an escort was furnished to Mr. Weller, 
Commissioner to settle the Mexican boundary, 
and that the duartermaster's Department fur- 
nished the supplies. I find, too, that the cost of 
outfit and escort was $40,577, including the pur- 
chase of many things wanted for the commis- 
sion, which were supplied, as 1 understand, by the 
duartermaster's Department. General Lane went 
out as Governor of Oregon with a military escort; 
and fro)n the duartermaster's Department I am 
furnished with a statement, showing the cost of 
outfits and escorts to civil agents in Mr. Polk's 
time, and General Taylor's, which I will read to 
the Senate* 

OUXrlTS AND ESCORTS TO CIVIL AGENTS. 

By order of Mr. Marcy. 

Cost. 
Hon. J. B. Weller, Coni"i- Mexican boundary. . .,$40,577 82 

Governor Lane, of Oregon 12,483 70 

Jnrtse Pratt, of Oregon 3,468 75 

E. F. Deale, bearer of dispatches to California 
and Oregon 4,83G 87 

Total, Mr. Marcy .$61,367 14 



B 



General Taylor. 

Colonel Collier. Collector San Francisco $34,788 96 

Clerk to Colonel Collier 1,340 24 

General Wilson, Indian agent, Salt Lake 12,270 71 

Indian agent in California 2,335 28 

" " New Mexico 5,880 23 

Total, General Taylor $56,615 42 

Mr. ATCHISON. I wish the Senator would 
inform me what was thecostof transporting Gen- 
eral Wilson to his agency at Utah ? 

Mr. PEARCE. The whole cost is put down 
at ^12,270 71. Now I beg leave to make another 
remark in this connection. The Senator from 
t California has assumed that this escort was sent 
out for the sole purpose of conducting M r. Wilson 
to his agency. I would refer the Senator to the 
report of the late Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
Mr. Medill, a Democrat, holding office under the 
administration of Mr. Polk, and who was suffered 
to continue in office after General Taylor's inau- 
guration. It will be found at page 183, of Docu- 
ment No. 17, of the first session of the 31st Con- 
gress. I will read only one single sentence from 
his letter to General Wilson: 

" As you will doubtless avail yourself of the military es- 
cort which will leave St. Louis shortly, funds will be 
placed in the hands of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs 
at that place to be turned over to you." 

That is the letter of instruction from the Com- 
missioner of Indian Aff'airs to this identical agent, 
General John Wilson. He told him that a mili- 
tary force was going out, and that it would be 
better for him to fall in with it. The fact is, as I 
have ascertained at the (Quartermaster's Depart- i 
ment, that the troops by which General Wilson j 
was escorted, were recruits which the Department | 
was sending to Santa Fe. At Santa Fe he pro- j 
cured another escort and went on. ! 

The Senate will perceive that this was not an | 
expedition got up for the sole benefit of this Indian 
agent; but that he was directed by the Demo- 
cratic Cominissioner of Indian Alfairs to avail ] 
himself of the opportunity of a military force going j 
out to Santa Fe. ' 

The Senator complains that General Wilson left 
his station at the Great Salt Lake, and went on to 
California, and that then he resigned his office. I 
know nothing of the particulars of tliat. I admit, 
that it does not seem to be exactly proper that an 
officer appointed to such a station as this, should 
immediately, upon arriving at the seat of his oper- 
ations, resign his place; but what I mean to say 
is, that no impropriety on the part of General 
Wilson was known to the present Executive, nor, 
so far as I can ascertain, to the Executive who 
preceded the present, at the time when he resigned 
his office, and when he was appointed to another. 
The complaint which the Senator makes is: that, 
having gone upon this expedition at great cost; 
having resigned his office before he did anything 
except to write two or three dispatches, Mr. Wil- 
son was appointed navy agent at San Francisco. 
That the Senator charges as an offense upon the 
[)resent Administration. Now, tiie fact is, that 
Mr. Wilson, who was a personal friend of Gen- 
eral Taylor, was appointed navy agent by General 
Taylor. He received his nomination from him. 
It had been sent to the Senate, but was for a 
long time unacted upon. It was not, it is true, 
acted upon at the time when Mr. Fillmore suc- 



ceded to the Presidency; but the Senate know 
very well that the policy of the present Execu- 
tive was not to withdraw nominations made by his 
predecessor, but to send them all in to the Senate, 
unless there was some special reason to the con- 
trary. This Administration knew of no special 
reason why Mr. Wilson should not be appointed 
navy agent. The Senator had, at that time, made 
no complaints against him. Nobody had made 
complaints against him, that I can ascertain; and 
he went in under the nomination of General Tay- 
lor, and was confirmed by the Senate — the Sena- 
tor from California being then, I believe, a member 
of the Senate, or a member elect, ready to take 
his seat here, when his State should be admitted, 
as she soon was. 

But the Senator does not stop at this point. He 
says, that Mr. Wilson was suffered to remain as 
navy agent at San Francisco, although he never 
gave an official bond; that he was allowed for a 
long time to receive the emoluments of his office, 
and that that office was finally abolished, in order 
to get rid of him. A most extraordinary series of 
mistakes! It is very true, that under his tempo- 
rary appointment, Mr. Wilson did off'er a bond, 
which was passed upon by the persons appointed 
to do so in California, and was rejected. But it is 
also true, that he ofl'"ered another bond, which was 
accepted ; and that , after his confirmation by the Sen- 
ate, he again oflfered another bond, which was also 
accepted. Then, the Senator is entirely mistaken 
in these particulars. He is also greatly mistaken 
in another, and it is a mistake about which I tnust 
confess my surprise. The Senator from Califor- 
nia is well known as a very active and indefat- 
igable member of the Senate; no man here, I 
believe, is more attentive to his duties; no man, 
I think, takes a more active part than the Senator 
from California in the duties of the committees of 
which he is a member. But he is chiiirman of the 
Naval Committee of this body. Upon him pecu- 
liarly devolves all the duties which belong to that 
committee. If there is any man in this body 
bound to know the law and the facts in regard to 
any particular case in relation to a naval officer, 
that Senator is preeminently bound to know them. 
He has told the Senate that this man received the 
emoluments of the office of navy agent during a 
considerable length of time. I can say to the Sen- 
ate, on the information 1 have obtained at the De- 
partment, that he never received any emoluments 
at all. I confess I must express my surprise 
again, that the Senator should have so far forgot- 
ten those naval affairs which were committed to 
his cliarge, as not to know that a navy agent re- 
ceives no salary. The only compensation he gets 
is a commission of one per cent, on the amount 
he disburses. Before the Senator made the charge, 
1 think he should havelooked into the facts. Gen- 
eral Wilson is one of his own constituents, who 
has a right to look to him, if to anybody, for de- 
fense. The Senator, if he had inquired, might 
have ascertained the fact, that never, during the 
whole time Geiieial Wilson held his commission, 
did he receive a dollar of the public money to dis- 
burse, and, therefore, he never received a cent of 
emolument. That is the fact. Besides, the office 
was not abolished to get rid of General Wilson. 
Very soon after the present Secretary came into 
office, he di-scovered that the navy agent at San 
Francisco had nothing to do. No money went 



9 



into his hands, and therefore there was nothing; for 
him to do. There was an experienced purser on 
that station; and as it is now our policy to keep 
ships-of-war there, there would always be a purser 
competent to do all the business devolving on the 
navy agent. Therefore, considering the office to 
be useless, he recommended the President to ask 
for its abolition. That is the history of General 
Jolin Wilson. 

The Senator has alluded to the escort which was 
sen tout with Mr. Collier, who was appointed collec- 
tor of the customs in California. There is manifestly 
nothing very extraordinary in this. 1 do not know 
that the troops which escorted Mr. Collier were 
sent out in order to recruit the array in California. 
I do not undertake to aver that. But the Senator 
has stated that Mr. Collier went out with a great 
outfit, and, if I understood him aright, that when 
he got to California, that outfit was not turned 
over to the public service as it ought to have been, 
but was appropriated to his own use. I ask the 
Senator if he can furnish any evidence in support 
of his charge? or is it a thing which he takes for 
granted ? Is there any official evidence of the fact ? 

Mr. GWIN. I so understood the chairman of 
the Committee on Finance, who had made inquiry 
in regard to the subject, 

Mr. PEARCE. Then the Senator made an- 
other mistake; that is all. As regards the sending 
of military escorts on these occasions, it seems to 
me very manifest that, if you are going to send a 
public agent thousands of miles from the seats of 
your civilization, through barren and inhospitable 
wastes, where no civilized man lives, but where 
thefiercestand most warlike savages roam in search 
of plunder, you would send a military escort with 
him, unless you wanted to have his scalp taken. 
If you send money with him he will lose that 
and his scalp too, unless he be protected by a mil- 
itary force. In point of fact, from the very foun- 
dation of the Government, when civil employees 
have been sent into a hostile Indian territory, or 
into a territory where, though the Indians were 
not hostile, they yet occupied such a doubtful at- 
titude that no man could say when they would 
become hostile, military escorts have been em- 
ployed for their protection. I suppose nobody 
knows that better than the Senator from Michigan, 
[Mr. Cass.] I take it for granted, though I do 
not know the fact, that in the course of his expe- 
rience, he has availed hin^elf of military escorts 
many times in making Indian treaties. I recollect 
that, on looking at one of the treaties which he 
made, I found the names of a number of officers 
of the Army appended to it as witnesses. I sup- 
pose they were part of the escort which protected 
him. No one would deplore more deeply than I 
should do any negligence of the Government in 
past times, by which that honorable gentleman 
should have been lost to the country, as might 
have been the case, if lie had been suft'ered to go 
into a dangerous Indian country to negotiate trea- 
ties without such military protection as was neces- 
sary to insure his security, and the absence of 
which would, in all probability, have frustrated 
the very object for which he went. 

Mr. HUNTER. A little while ago the Sena- 
tor asked a question in relation to Mr. Collier's 
expedition. Does he wish it answered now.' 

Mr. PEARCE. Certainly. 

Mr. HUNTER. 1 have not by me the papers 



containing an account of the expenses of the tran.s- 
portation of the expedition of Mr. Collier; but I 
think the expense was about |34,000. 

Mr. PEARCE. That was the whole expense 
of the outfit and escort, as furnished by the Q,uar- 
termaster's Department. 

Mr. HUNTER. I would ask ;he Senator if he 
is certain that it includes the expenses of the 
troops composing the escort? — for I certainly un- 
derstood differently from General Jesup. 

Mr. PEARCE. It does not include their pay 
or subsistence, but does cover their transporta- 
tion. 

Mr. HUNTER. I understood that that amount 
did not include the expense of the troops of the 
escort. I got my information through the Com- 
missioner of the Customs. I addressed General 
Jesup 's office, in order to get the information, and 
he sent to me a letter, in which he states that no 
j account was ever rendered by Mr. Collier, or suite, 
I for the property which they took with them; and, 
j so far as the records of the office show, no account 
was ever rendered in regard to the public property 
which they took. 

Mr. PEARCE. I was furnished with a state- 
ment that the expense for the outfits and escorts 
of civil agents in that expedition, amounted to the 
sum mentioned by the gentleman from Virginia — 
$34,000. This does not include the pay of the 
troops; but it includes all the purchases that were 
made for the transportation of the troops, and of 
their supplies. We are not to suppose that the 
§34,000 was a private fund, put into the pocket of 
this civil agent, and expended for his individual 
benefit. It was a fund which was expended in 
the purchase of everything necessary for the es- 
cort. If there was any small peculation on the 
part of Mr. Collier, I know nothing of it, and I 
have no reason to believe such to have been the 
fact. I take it for granted that the officers of the 
Army, who commanded the escort, were respon- 
sible for the army property put into their posses- 
sion for the purposes of the escort. If Mr. Col- 
lier had any small amount of the public property 
under his charge, and appropriated it to his own 
use, it was a great disgrace to him; but it does not 
authorize a charge against the Administration of 
General Taylor, of a wanton expenditure of 
§34,000, as if that sum had gone into the collect- 
or's pocket, and had been used solely for his own 
purposes Still less can the present Administra- 
tion be held liable for an abuse not occurring in 
their time, neither sanctioned by them, nor even 
known to them. 

But I was about to state certain advantages that 
arise from sending troops through the Indian ter- 
ritory. It is the policy of our very best military 
commanders, in those distant divisions, to keep 
our troops moving among the Indians. That is 
the only way to pacify them — to overawe them 
into quiet — to secure protection to our emigrants, 
going across their wild and desolate plains; to pre- 
vent the Indians crossing our boundaries into 
Mexico, whose territories we are bound , by treaty 
stipulation, to protect from their incursions. You 
cannot keep a permanent force everywhere in the 
Indian country That would be impossible, if 
you had the wealth of Crresus, and were willing 
thus to expend it, because the country is too vast 
and sterile, and affords no means of subsistence. 
But it is, obviously, a proper means of keeping 



10 



these Indians quiet, to send detacliments of troops 
into their country, at different times, as often as | 
may he, and at such an expense as will not be in- ] 
tolerable to the Treasury. It is precisely that pol- ' 
icy which Mr. Polk pursued, when he sent the i 
rifle regiment to Oregon. He did not send them '■ 
by sea, but across the plains, at an expense of over 
|22(J,000. I have the vouchers by me for the 
amount. I do not charge that as an impropriety 
on Mr. Polk's administration — not at all. But 
the Senate will recollect that, at a preceding ses- ' 
sion of Congress, the chairman of the Committee 
on Ways and Means, in the House of Represent- j 
atives, [Mr. Batly,] spoke of this as a " most j 
improvident thing," while he said the ariange- ] 
ments made by the present Secretary of War to : 
bring that regiment back, were " extremely judi- 
cious," and " of the most economical kind." I 
presume lie thought that the rifle regiment was 
not wanted in that country, where the Indians are 
more pacific than elsewhere, and where troops of; 
this descri])tion were not so useful. But the same 
policy which induced Mr. Polk to send that rifle 
regiment overland to Oregon, and to establish 
military posts along that route, and to protect the 
gentleman appointed to the governorship of tliat 
Territory, justified GeneralTaylorin sending suih 
an escort with Mr. Collier to San Francisco. ' 

Mr. HUNTER. I have now the letter of the ' 
Secretary ofWar to the Commissioner of Customs, 
to which I referred. It is in these words; | 

War Department, ) 
Washington, ^pril 17, ISS^. ) 
Sir: 1 have received your letter of th(3 31st ult., request- 
ing to bp int'oriiied whether certain property, or any part 
thereof, had heoii turned over to the (iuartemiaster's Depart- j 
nient by Collector Colher. when he reached his destination, ; 
and the amount. In reply thereto, I have the honor to in- ! 
form you that, as far as this Department is informed, no j 
part of the property has been accounted for. It is believed ' 
that the whole of it was lost, or left on the route, though on j 
this point the Department has no official information. 

Very respectfully your obedient servant, i 

C. M. CONRAD, Secretary of War. 
Hon. C. W. Rockwell, 

Commissioner of Customs, [ 

Mr. PEARCE. If the property was lost or left \ 
on the route, as the Secretary supposes, it was not 
converted to his own use by Air. Collier. Mr. 
jollier was nominated to the Senate as Collector 
of the Customs. If he had basely abused his 
trust, and peculated upon the public property, in 
the manner which the Senator from California 
supposes, but whicli is not sustained by the letter 
which the Senator from Virginia has read, it was j 
theduty of the Senate, undoubtedly, to reject him. I 
Most unquestionably, if the Administration had j 
known of that j)roceeding, the President would ' 
not have nominated him, nor have sufl^ered his 
nomination, by General Taylor, to remain before j 
the Senate after lie came into power. 1 

Tiie Senator from California has spoken of 
diveis abuses, by Mr. Collier, after he arrived at 
San Francisco. He has spoken of his seizure of 
French cargoes; and it is a tact, as he says, that 
some of these seizures were wrongfully made. 
It occasioned a good deal of trouble at the time. 
But many of these seizures, I am informed, were 
fully justified by our revenue laws. In regard to 
the oilier.", the fact is, that instructions sent to Mr. 
Collier, ill time to prevent theseimproper seizures, 
were accidentally sent to Europe instead of Cali- 
fornia, and he did not receive them in time to avoid 



the error into which he fell. In regard to the law- 
ful seizures of property, which he made, and the 
selling of that property, what was the reason for 
it ? There was, at that tiine, no court in Califor- 
nia with jurisdiction to determine the questions, and 
to condemn the property. I learn that the owners, 
or the agents of the owners of the cargoes, called 
upon him to sell them. They preferred that he 
should sell them, rather than that they should 
perish on his hands by decay, or be sent, for ad- 
judication, to distant tribunals. I believe that he 
is now in default; but that fact was not known to 
this Administration when his nomination was 
acted upon by the Senate. 

I take it for granted that the Senate would not 
hold an Adtninistration responsible for the defal- 
cation of an inferior affent, unless they tolerated 
the abuse, or rewarded him for it, as the gentle- 
man seemed to intimate at the opening of his 
speech. Mr. Collier's abuses, whatever they were, 
were not known to the Adtninistration. Suspicions 
were afloat it is true; but no official information 
had been received at the Treasury Department of 
any maladministration by him, at the time when 
his nomination was sent to the Senate; and it 
would have been grossly unjust, upon mere rumor 
and suspicion, to discredit a man who had always 
before borne an honorable character, when, by 
waiting a little while, official information could be 
obtained upon which the Department might deter- 
mine its action. He was, however, rejected by 
the Senate, as the Senator has stated. 

Another complaint, which the Senator makes 
against the Administration is, that they have been 
guilty of gross extravagance in regard to the es- 
tablishment of a military depot at Benicia. His 
first objection is, that Benicia was not the proper 
place. He read from the report of Major Vinton, 
a quartermaster in the Army, to show that the se- 
lection of these sites was determined by General 
Persifer F. Smith, a gentleman who is, above all 
exception, one of the most gallant men in the 
Army, as I know the gentleinan will concur with 
me in saying, a man of general and professional 
intelligence, and of the very highest sense of honor, 
whose especial dutyit was to select these sites, and 
who was appointed to the command by Mr. Polk's 
administration. He was a sterling Democrat, 
too, but doubtless received his appointment be- 
cause of the special confidence reposed in his fidel- 
ity. That officer comftunicated to the Govern- 
ment, at ditferent times, the reasons wliy he 
preferred establishing the military depot at Benicia 
instead of San Francisco. I propose to read a 
few extracts from his letters to the Adjutant Gen- 
eral. Under date of AnrilS, 1849, he says: 

" The town of San Francisco is no way littrd for military 
or commercial purposes ; there is no harbor, a bad landing 
place, bad water, mo supplies of provisions, an inclement 
climate, and it is cut otffrom the rest of the country, ex- 
cept by a long circuit around the southern extremity of the 
bay. There are points on the bay, more inland, having 
good harbors and landings, gooil water, and open to tlie 
whole country in rear, and accessible, withoutditlienlty, to 
ships of the larirot class. One of these should be the point 
at which the future dep.'.ls should be established." 

In a letter of the 9th of April, 1849, he shows 
how carefully and minutely the Straits of Karqui- 
nez, and the [losition of I3enicia, had been exam- 
ined by himself, and other officers of the Army 
and Navy, and says: 

'' The Straits an- about five miles long, and from one to 
two broad . Near the lower end the land is bold and high 



It 



on both sides. Between the plat of this town, and the 
upper end of the Straits, a distance of almut one mile, a 
large vessel can be near enou{;h the bank to unload at sev- 
eral points, and in the whole extent by a small expense for 
wharves." * * * "The road to the upper Sacramento, 
from the southern country, crosses here during tlie season 
of high water, when the Valley of San Joaquin is over- 
flowed ; and this point has at all times a free communica- 
tion with all parts of the Territory. The objections to this 
place are, that there is no wood near the site, whereas tlie 
south bide of the Straits has some scattered trees on its 
hills, and there is no stream of t'resh wateron it. The wells, 
hoivever, furnish muchlicttcr u-ater than is found at San 
Francisco, and as good as is generally found from Decem- 
ber uiitilJune. when the rivers are high. At low water 
the water of the Straits is fresh ; we found it perfectly good 
at the time." 



He also repeats, that " the expense of landing 
stores at San Francisco is enormous;" and con- 
trasting the two places, says: "But there is no 
point entirely covered from all winds except in the 
Straits of Karquinez." 

On the 21st of May, 1849, he writes again from 
San Francisco, and says: ,; 

"The enormous expense attending the landing and ship- 
ment of goods here will be obviated by having the depC.t re- ji 
moved to Benicia, on the Straits of Karquinez, where the , 
general depAt is established." \\ 

Major Vinton, in the report fiom which the ;' 
Senator has read, dated 30th March, 1850, in ^ 
speaking of San Francisco, says: i 

" The natural obstacles to its successful enlargement and , 
permanency in a commerial view, may be pointed out as i 
consistin" in its climate, the want of permanent points tor h 
landing cargoes, the absence of fuel, and the lack ol a plen- j| 
tiful supply of wholesome water." * * " The harbor, !, 
hence, is, as it has been very justly represented, excellent ,1 
in many respecLs ; but it is not a safe one during the prcv- : 
alence of the southeast gales, which sometimes sweej) with j 
great violence through its whole length; and the communi- 
cation from the anchorage to the shore, is so nuich ob- 
structed by mud flats, that it is only at high tide that com- j 
modities from the shipping can be landed. , .j' 

"Thi* object has, in a measure, been recently obviated 
by the construction of imperfuct and insufficient piers. An 
incredible waste of property has been the consequence; 
ve^^sels freighted with most valuable cargoes have been de- n 
serted at their anchorage, to unload which, and deposit their i' 
contents on the open beach, at the high prices ol labor, has ;: 
cost more than the amount of their treight money. Ihe ; 
QHartermaster's Department, with all i ts resources, h as not ! , 
been able to escape the evils resulting from such a state ot ;; 
tlie times ; and although other places, as yet, have not been , 
tbund to be more favorable in some respects than tean t ran- : 
Cisco there is no good reason for making that town the site 
of our principal depr.t. Much of the land on which the 
town is built is, held by very questionable titles, and the 
public reservations made by our military governors are lia- 
ble to be disputed at any time. To erect e.xpensuve store- 
houses and quarters on these lands while the dithculty oi 
communicating with the shipping is such as ha? been de-^ 
-cribed, would incur risks and expenses that the good ot 
the service would not warrant ; and the opportunities tor 
so doin" which existed a few months ago, have since been 
destroyed bvthe act of some person, with or without sulti- 
cient authoiitv, (about which I am not fully advised,) e.x^ 
tendin" nermi'^sion to certain citizens to build upon and 
occupy, for business purposes, some of the best pouits on 
the public reserve. Rents are exorbitantly high-beyond a 
narallel in any country. Fuel cannot be obtained at retail 
orices for less than fittv dollars per cord, and men are un- ; 
willin" to contract for any large supplies of it prospectively, 
lest the extravagant prices of labor may throw them out ot 
all calculable profit." 

Soon after his arrival in California, General 
Smith established the depot, as I suppose, under 
the large discretionary powers which had been 
Civen to him by Mr. Vlarcy when he set oat to 
take command of the division. It will be per- 
ceived that he gives some very good reason.s lOr 
the selection of this place. Recollect that he was 
the General commanding the division. He was 
the officer whose especial duty it was to select the 



sites for depots. Upon Major Vinton no such 
duty had been devolved. The report to the Adju- 
tant General, from which the Senator has read, 
was dated in March, 1850, months after the depot 
was established. The information communicated 
in that report to Mr. Secretary Crawford, was 
long after General Snnith, on his own responsi- 
bility, had established the post, and long after the 
Secretary of War had approved its selection. 
The approval of the Secretary of War was dated 
in July, 1849. The Senator has read from this 
report of Major Vinton, which, so far, may be 
considered a volunteer report, to show that the ob- 
vious disadvantages of the site made it the duly of 
the Department of War to disapprove it. It so 
• happened that, while running my eye over the re- 
1 port, and comparing it with the extract which he 
i quoted, and which is set out in the printed report 
I of his speech, I found a very important omission. 
i The part omitted is only a single sentence; but, 
: then, it is a key to all the rest of the report. It 
i does not merely qualify and limit the sense of 
i what preceded,' but entirely changes the view 
j which an imperfect examination of the report 
l; would present. After describing the geographical 
' advantages of Benicia, he speaks of its topograph- 
: ical disalivantages. The last are chiefly the want 
of wood and water. 
Major Vinton says: 
li "Having in view, then, that these two great elements 
' which invariably form the first principles in making a 
choice for the residence of a community are wanting at 
this place, I think the defects of the position are made man- 
ifest." . 

So far the Senator read, and so far his quota- 
tion is correct. Bat he did not read the next and 
very important sentence, which is in these words: 
" Still it is not easy to designate any other point which is 
free from similar objections ; and I allude to the faults of 
this one. to show the dih'iculties and consequent expendi- 
ture to be encountered in the establishment of depits." 

When we look, therefore, to the whole of Major 
Vinton's testimony, we find, that if it is to have 
any effect at all, it is to sustain the selection of 
General Smith. He shows the great and peculiar 
geographical advantages of Benicia, and that its 
topographical disadvantages are such as jirevail 
elsewhere. 

The Senator spoke particularly of a want ot 
water, there being, as he supposed, only a single 
spring at Beiucia. General Smith sj^eaks m terms 
of complaint of the water at San Francisco, and 
in terms of commendation of the water at Benicia. 
! He says that the water at Benicia was very good. 
I have been informed, by a quartermasier of the 
\ Army, thai several good springs have since been 
discovered about Benicia, one of which is upon 
the ground where the public buildings are erected, 
andlhe whole of it is, or may be, appropriated to 
, the use of the troops. 1 find, from a report made 
;! by Mr. Bom ford, who appears to have been an 
! engineer appointed for that purpose, that they had 
bored, in order to get water, by artesian wells; 
that he had gone down one hundred and sixteen 
' feet and the water only rose within forty-two feet 
: of the surface. Thus, as lar as the experiiuents 
had gone, Artesian wells would not answer. 1 hen 
the eno-ineer makes this further statement, which 
showsThat Artesian wells could not be relied upon, 
and that is, that the geological structure of the 
country was such as to make it extremely doubt- 
ful whether further depth of boring would bring 



12 



water to the surface. The strata there are very 
mucli inclined, almost perpendicular; " a condition 
extremely unfavorable to the passage of water 
from distant points." It appears, therefore, that 
the project of the Artesian well, which the Senator 
thinks ought to have been persevered in, was fu- 
tile, and, that if there was not an ample supply of 
running water. General Smith was right in adopt- 
ing the plan of cisterns. As to the price of wood, 
it was enormous in San Francisco. Major Vin- 
ton stales, in the same report, that it was retailed 
in that city at $50 a cord. I take it, that the price 
was no higher at Benieia, past which place, I un- 
derstand, a great deal of wood goes to San Fran- 
cisco. At Benieia there is bold water, where a 
ship can lie close along the shore and land its cargo 
without the extraordinary exiiense attendant upon 
the landing at San Francisco, where the mud flats 
extendinglo a great distance, the expense of light- 
erage was necessarily enormous. 

General Smith went to California in the fall of 
1848, under the orders of Mr. Polk's administra- 
tion, fie was written to in October of that year 
to come on to Washington, and confer with the 
Secretary of War. I dare say he had from Mr. 
Marcy, who was undoubtedly an able Secretary, 
very judicious advice, as to the duties which he 
was expected to perform. Very singular to say, 
however, no written instructions to him are to be 
found on the files of the Department, tuiless those 
of his )iredecessor. General Mason, to which he 
was referred, are to be considered such. It isvery 
manifest that he must have had oral instructions, 
if not written ones; for if he had neither the one 
nor the other, the Secretary would be justly 
chargeable with negligence, and the General could 
scarcely have exercised the large discretion which 
lie seems to have been conscious was intrusted to 
him. Certain it is, that on the I5th November, 
1848, Mr. Marcy authorized him, by letter, " to 
establish his headquarters in California or Oregon, 
and change them from time to time, as the exi- 
gencies of the public service may require," and 
charged iiim with the general duties of defending 
these territories, and of preserving peace and pro- 
tecting die inhabitants from Indian depredations. 
It is understood that he was authorized to estab- 
lish depots, cover his troops, and secure his sup- 
plies, as the General of an army, in time of war, 
IS accustomed to do. In regard to the expense of 
these buildings at Benieia, there is an indistinct- 
ness in the charges of the Senator, that is to say, 
he has not discriminated between those put up by 
General Smith, upon his own authority, and with- 
out the sanction of the Department, aiid those put 
up in General Taylor's lime. Nor has he noticed 
the action of the present Administration in regard 
to the subject. 

Major Allen, in his report to Major Vinton of 
January 10, 1850, states that he took charge of 
the property of the quarterma.«iter's department 
at Benieia the 1st July, 1849, the post having been 
eslal>lislie(l,and the stores transferred to that place, 
befrire this lime — and of course, before the approval 
of it.s selection liy Mr. Secretary Crawford. Ma- 
or Allen says, " his attention was first called to 
'the completion of the buildings commenced, but 
' which were little advanced, and to the erection of 
' three houses and a barrack." The lowest rale of 
a mechanic's pay was eleven dollars, and of a la- 
borer, five dollars per day. 



The Senator read from another report of the 
same Quartermaster Allen to General Jesup, 
which shows that the enormous rents at San Fran- 
cisco induced the commanding general to remove 
the stores from that place, before accommodations 
were provided for them at Benieia, as in the end 
more economical. It shows also the impossibility 
of getting the soldiers to work for the trifling com- 
pensation allowed them for their labor, and the 
general laxity of discipline which prevailed at this 
period when gold had been recently discovered, 
and the sacra fames aitri was raging most fierce- 
ly. Having read an extract from this report, the 
Senator then charges that " with a full knowledge 
'of these facts, the Secretary of War sanctions these 
' enormous expenditures on a depot established 
' without authority of law, with the full knowledge 
' that no corresponding benefit could result from its 
' establishment either to California or the United 
' States. I intend it to be distinctly understand, 
' (he says,) that these extraordinary expenditures 
' were known to the Secretary of War, and not 
' disapproved by him." 

Now, in relation to the present Secretary of 
War, these expenditures were made before he 
came into oflice. He never authorized any build- 
ings to be erected at this depot; and neither he nor 
Mr. Crawford could have known of them from this 
report, which was made the 30th June, 1851, long 
after the expenses were incurred. I shall show 
presently what buildings were erected by authori- 
ty of Mr. Crawford, and what by authority of 
the commanding general, and that the present 
Secretary of War, as soon as he was informed of 
the great expenditures already made, and of others 
in-oposed, directed their immediate discontinuance. 
And I infer from the report of Major Vinton, of 
29th March, 1850, to the Adjutant" General, that 
until then the War Department was not specifi- 
cally informed of the buildings erected by order of 
the commanding general, or of the expenditures 
upon them. For in that report Major Vinton 
gave a detailed account yf the different buildings 
and furnished plans of them which, regularly, 
should first have been approved by the Department. 
And it appears that several of them, commenced 
before July, 1849, were completed in October and 
Noveml)er of that year. A report made to the 
Secretary of War on the 27th April last, by the 
Quartermaster General, will show what was au- 
thorized by Secretary Crawford: 

(illARTEnMA.STKU GfNF.RAI.'S OfFICK, ) 

Washington City, Ji}iril'2'i, 18.V3. \ 
PiR : III reply to vour iin|uiries in re<;an1 to the change of 
the principnl (Icp'it of the Army from San Francisco to Be- 
nieia, in (jalilninia, and the manner in which the necessary 
hnililinas wiTr <'rrcii'd, I have the honor to ri'port, that the 
siilij.Ti ni linildirms. as well tor the use of the troops as for 
the priitciMKui oi the pnlilic stores on the I'aeitic, had re- 
ceived the early attention of Mr. Sicn tary Marcy. Cap- 
lain Folsoni, ,\ssistaiU (in.irterniasti'r at San Franeiseo, had 
rccommendeii that materials for hnildinps should be sent 
from the Atlantic, as less e.\p<!n.sive than to obtain them in 
(,'alifornia. Mr. Marey thonu'lit favorably of the incasnrt!, 
and directed nie to organize aboard of olficersto diterniini! 
and riporl upon plans of buildings for olfiecrs' (|uarti'rs, 
solilirrs' bcrraeks, and store-houses to protect the public 

supplies. 

1 or^'iinized a board on the 15th of February, 1849 — see 
paper niiirUed A, with the aeeojnpanying plans, herewith. 
'I'hey re|i(irted on the ;>(l of March, hut a.'s Mr. Marcy was to 
go out ol fifhce the next day, he. of course, would give noiii- 
slruelions on the sul)ject. As soon after Mr. Crawford was 
Inslalled into office as possible, I brought the matter to his 
notice, but he disapproved of the proposition, and on the5th 
of April, 1849, I inlbrmeil Captain Folsom of his decision, 



18 



and referred him to California or Oregon for tl>e materials 
to build a suitable store-house to protect the supplies, whioh 
was the only building then authorized 

In consequence of the difficulty and expense of landing 
stores of every description at San Francisco, and the enor- 
mous rents asked tor store-houses and quarters for the 
troops there, General Smith changed the depot from San 
Francisco to Benicia, I think, in April; and in a letter to 
the Adjutant General, dated the 21st of May, he recom- 
mended that point as the permanent depot. This letter was 
received on the 20th of July, and the same day referred to 
the Secretary, who. on the 91st of July, made an indorse- 
ment on It of which the tollovving is an extract : '• Dep",t to 
be changed as recommended. G. W. C" On the 2;Jd of 
July the Adjutant General addressed a letter of instructions 
to General Smith, of which the following is an extract: 
" Your communication of May 26, which was submitted to 
•the Secretary of War on its receipt, has been considered, 
' and J am instructed to say, that the transfer of the Army 
• depot from San Francisco to Benicia, or the Straits of 
' Karquinez, is fully approved. R. Jones, Adjutant Gen- 
' era!." 

About this time, the subject of sending suitable buildings 
from the .'\tlautic to the Pacific was again presented for tiie 
consideration of the Secretary of War, and he authorized me 
to have materials for suitable buildings prepared and sent 
from the Atlantic; and, in accordance with his instruc- 
tions, I directed Lieutenant Colonel Thomas, on the 27th 
of July, to proceed to Maine, and have materials prepared 
and sent to Calitbrnia. The Colonel executed the duty 
confided to him most successfully — Paper marked B is a 
duphcate of a report which he made on the 21st instant, de- 
tailing his operations, and stating the cost of them. With 
the exception of a i'ew small iron buildings sent out, these 
are all that were authorized Irom this otfioe, except the 
store-house referred to above, and, as before stated, Ihey 
were sanctioned by the Secretary of War. They were all 
necessary, and costly, as it proved, to put them up at Beni 
cia, and other posts in California. More than one hundred 
thousand dollars were saved to the Treasury by sending 
them from the Atlantic. 

I have the honor to be, sir, vour obedient servant, 

TH. S. JESUP, q.uurtermaster General. 
The Hon. C. M. Conrad, Secretary of fVar, 

IVashington City. 

The re.sult of the deliberations of this board was, 
that they advised the buildings to be erected prin- 
cipally of wood. I have here the drawings of 
most of the buildings which the Secretary autho- 
rized. One of these buildings was a store-house, 
of which I do not find the plan, and which was 
put up by the commanding general under the au- 
thority of Secretary Crawford. The other build- 
ings which he authorized, were contracted for in 
the State of Maine, and very judicious measures 
were taken to secure economy in their purchase 
and erection. Colonel Thomas, of the Gtuartermas- 
ter General's Bureau, went to tlie State of Maine, 
and there made the contracts for two buildings for 
officers' quarters, two for barracks, two for store- 
houses, and one for a guard-house. The timbers 
were all framed and ready to be put up on be- 
ing landed in Benicia — the weatherboarding was ' 
planed and - rabbeted — the flooring tongued and j 
grooved, and, in fact, everything necessary was 
so prepared and shipped for that Territory, so as 
to require the least possible labor to be done in 
California. The same officer shipped a party of 
good and efficient mechanics, carpenters, brick- ' 
layers, and masons, and plasterers, a blacksmith, i 
and painter, all under contract to work for the 
Government for one hundred days after their ar- | 
rival, on favorable terms; and it is honorable to the ' 
character of these Eastern mechanics, that not- 
withstanding all temptations and inducements to 
violate their contracts, they remained faithful and 
fulfilled their agreement, at about one third the 
current wages of the country. The price of the 
materials varied according to kind and quality, j 
from nine to twenty-one dollars per thousand feet, j 



j and the total cost of materials, tools, freight, and 

! passage money, was $64,871 25. By these means, 

as the duartermaster General says, more than 

$100,000 was saved to the Government; and this 

was the sort of extravagance sanctioned by Sec- 

' retary Crawford. 

1 Major Allen, the quartermaster who succeeded 
Major Vinton, gives us a history of these expend- 
i itures. It seems that he took charge on the 1st of 
j July, 1849; and many of the buildings were ei-ected 
i in the fiscal year ending 30lh of June, 1850. In 
I July, 1849, Mr. Crawford changed his opinion, 
j and deterinined that it would be more advantage- 
I ous to the Government to have the materials pro- 
j vided on th,e Atlantic coast, and shipped by sea. 
Therefore, one of the assistants of tlie duarter- 
I master General's Bureati, Colonel Thomas, was 
sent, as I have said, to the State of Maine, where 
' he made the contract which I have mentioned. 
' These were the buildings authorized by Mr. Sec- 
retary Crawford, in addition to the single store- 
( house which General Smith was specially author- 
I ized to erect at Benicia. The other buildings were 
I erected without such authority, and without plana 
;{ from the (Quartermaster's Department, which a 
regulation of the Army reqviires should be fur- 
►i nished before their erection. The great bulk of 
; the expense was incurred in the erection of these 
: buildings, on General Smith 's responsiblity. And 
;j so far from Mr. Secretary Crawford being, as the 
I Senator from California wislies it distinctly under' 
stood, fully informed of the expenditures and ap- 
j proving of them, I am able to state, on full au- 
I thority, that no report ever apprised him of them, 
i| and that the accounts of quartermaster's expend- 
I itures in California, for the third and fourth 
': quarters of 1849, and the first quarter of 1850, were 
not received at the office of General Jesup till the 
: 10th of May, 1850, while those of the second, 
I third, and fourth quarters of 1850, were not re- 
I ceived till the 15th February, 1851. The Senate 
j will therefore perceive that if there was any great 
extravagance in the erection of these buildings, it 
IS to be attributed to somebody else, not to the 
' action of General Taylor's Secretary of War. I 
know and aver that nobody can charge the present 
j Secretary of War with having .sanctioned any ex- 
; travagance with regard to them. In order to 
nnake out the charge of extravagance, the Senator 
has quoted from a report inade by Major Allen, 
' on the 30th of June, 1851 — long after all the ex- 
, travagance complained of had been coinmitted. 
1 The report of Major Vinton was made in March, 
1850. If there was any extravagance at all, it 
J was in erecting the store-houses authorized by 
I Mr. Crawford, and the other buildings, not au- 
j thorized by Mr. Crawford, prior to July, 18.50. 
I do not mean to reproach General Smith for 
any abuse of power in the erection of these build- 
I ings. He is, no doubt, able to justify it by the 
! oral instructions of Secretary Marcy, by the ex- 
j traordinary condition of the country, and by the 
! exigency of the public service. I believe, as the 
Senator does, that he acted with a view to the best 
interests of the country; and I wonder why a little 
: charity might not have been extended to Secretary 
! -Crawford also. Why could not the Senator sup- 
pose that, so far as he v/as concerned, he also 
I acted with a view to the be.st interests of the coun- 
j try.' And why not ascertain, by careful inquiry, 
I as I have done, that he was no way responsible 



14 



for expenditures made without his knowleda:c, 
und^i authority which could only have been de- 
rive . from his predecessor, and the exercise of 
wh'i h authority was not known to him till too 
late for his interference? It is very probable that 
General Smith, with all his gallantry and all his 
intellig-ence, was not quite so strict an economist 
as the Senator from California is; and that is very 
much to be regretted. But it must be remem- 
bered, in justice to him, that it is not necessary 
that Congress should pass special provisions of 
law authorizing the building of barracks at par- 
ticular places. The army appropriation bills often 
contain, and that passed in 1848, for the support 
of the army for the year ending June 30, 1849, 
did contain, an appropriation for all the incidental 
expenses of the duarlermaster's Department, in- 
cluding barracks. In that year the appropriation 
was :fi350,000 for all these objects. Ordinarily, 
no barracks, store-houses, quarters, &c, are built 
without the approbation of the Secretary of War; 
but the distant theater of these operations, the 
pressing wants of the service, the peculiar and 
extraordinary condition of things in California, 
and the oral instructions of Mr. Marcy, doubtless 
justified General Smith in all that he did. 

I will show, PiOW, what was the action of the 
present Secretary of War upon that subject. I 
have said that the accounts came to General Jesup 
on the loth of February, 1851. On the 24th of 
February, 1851, the Secretary addressed the fol- 
lowing letter to General Smith: 

War Department, ) 
WAStiisGTON, February ii4, 1851. I 
Major General Persiker F. Smith, 

Comd'^ Pacific Division, Bcnicia, California : 

Siii: The QuarteinuistHr General has, within a few days 
past, submitted to nie a report made by Assistant Ciuarter- 
inaster Robert Allen, showing; the number of persons em- 
ployed in the constrnclion of barracks, &c., at Benicia 
during the month of November last, and the wages paid to 
each. By this account it appears that there xveri^ at that 
time eijihty-nine mechanics and laborers employed in said 
works, at an aggregate expense of about ($21,600 per month 
for their wages. 

He has also brought to my notice a letter from Major 
Allen, dated August 25. 1850, in which that olRcer esti- 
mates that the sums which will be required for expenditures 
in the construction of barracks, store houses, &c., at cer- 
tain posts in California and Oregon dcsisinated in his letter, 
will amount, during the year commencing on the 25lli 
August, 1850, to about .*2,ii20.500. 

As no order appiars to have been given by this Depart- 
ment t'lir the ercetion of these works, as required by regula- 
tions, [See Army Regulations of 1841, par. 970,971] I was 
not, until then, aware of their magnitude and cost, and 
supposed they were cheap structures, intended for the tem- 
porary accommodation of the troops. Unless the Army 
should be much increased, (of which there is at present 
no prospect vvliatm-er,) the military foree here:iuer to be 
stationed on tin; Pacific, particularly in Caiidiriiia, will be 
very incon.siderable, a'jd the jirecise points where tliey 
ought to be stationed are hardly yet deterniincd with siiHi- 
cient accuracy to render it prudent to expend large sums in 
the construction of permanent works of this character. 
Even vverc! it oliierwise, the Department would hesitate to 
make these expenditures until money had been specially 
appropriated for the purpose. In the ahscnse of plans and 
estimates, and in the ir.iceriainty that now prevails as to the 
extent ot the military I'orce that will herealler be stationed 
on the Pacific, no recommendalionof such an appropriation 
can be made at the present session. 

You will, therefore, immediately on the receipt of this 
letter, suspend all further operations on the works at Benicia 
beyond what are absolutely necifssary for the jmnierliate 
use of the troops stalioiicd tlierc, or that may remain there, 
in case you should lepurt in answer to the inniniunication 
of the Gc-neral in-t'bielOl' Ihe -JOlli day of December last, 
^liat the loree now stationed there can be reduced. Vou 
will give similar orders to the emninanders of tin; srjveral 
poaia where sueli works are now iti the course of construc- 



tion, taking care that proper measures be adopted for the 
protection of such works as have been commenced, and 
for the preservation or sale of the materials on hand. In 
the execution of this order, you will of course exercise 
yourdiscretion as to the precise extent to which, and the 
mode in which it is to be carried out. I will remark, 
however, that the expenditures of the Army, particularly of 
the Quartermaster's Department for the "last year, have 
excited a great deal of remark ; that the entire estimates 
for barracks and quarters, (including those in California 
and Oregon,) for the year ending 30th June, 1853, amount 
only to ^4<800,000, and there is every reason to believe that 
even this amount will be very much reduced, and that no 
specific appropriation will be made for the works referred 
to in this letter. The appropriations for the current year 
are already exhausted. 

You will also give orders that the quartermasters at each 
post shall, as soon as practicable, prepare and transmit to 
tills Department, a detailed statement, showing the precise 
nature and extent ofall works that are or have been erected 
thereat; the materials of which they are constructed, their 
present state, the amount that has been already expended 
on them, the materials on hand, and an estimate of the 
amount that will be required to complete them. 

Very respectfully, vour obedient servant, 

C. M. CONRAD, Secretary of War. 

I presume the report of Major Allen, dated at 
Benicia, June 30, 1851, and referred to by the 
i Senator, was in consequence of this order. The 
Senate will perceive that the present Secretary of 
War, as soon as he was informed of the magni- 
tude and cost of the building which had been 
erected, and were proposed to be erected at Beni- 
cia, took immediate steps to put a stop to the ex- 
penditure. It is not to be supposed that a Sec- 
retary of War, who has been in office only a few 
months, is to be acquainted with everything going 
on in his Department. It is not his duty to in- 
vestigate every account that comes in, or every 
dispatch that is received l>y the duartermaster 
General's Bureau, or any other. It is the duty of 
his subordinates to bring to his notice everything 
of special consequence which may require his 
attention. This letter shows that he was not in- 
formed of the proposed expenditure at Benicia 
until a kw days before the letter was dated; and 
promptly, after receiving the information, he put 
I an end to this expenditure. On referring to the 
documents accompanying M;ijor Allen's report in 
1851, I find a list of the houses which were begun 
and completed at the depot at Benicia for the year 
commencing July 1st, 1850. It sustains the state- 
ment I have made to the Senate, as to the number 
of houses and building,s which were erected. 

In connection with this subject, the Senator haa 
made great complaints as to the application of the 
civil fund in California 

Mr. GWIN. As the Senator is entering upon 
a new topic, I will read the extract from the letter 
of Cominodure .Tones, to which I referred. I did 
not expect that the Senator would speak to-day, 
or I .should have been prepared with the documents 
upon which I based my remarks, to which the 
Senator is replying. 1 read from an official letter 
addressed by Commodore Jones to Lieutenant R. 
W. Meade, dated at San Francisco, Augtist 17, 
1849. After giving the reasons why he did not 
put Lieutenant Meade in command of the Edith, 
he makes this statement: 

" Subsequently, and very unexpectedly since my return 
to San Francisco, the lion. T. !l. King has, iimler author- 
ity from the Presidi'iil, called on me for the Eilitli to go to 
leeward on very important service. Unconnected with the 
Navy ; and sn pressing is the necessity for the earliest pos- 
sible departure of the Kdilh, that she will go to .sea at the 
end of till! week, under canvas, with the contractor and 
his cngiiip<'rs, and workmen on board, who will finish their 
work on the passage." 



15 



Mr. PEARCE. I do not think that makes any : 
difference. It is the same thing, after all, which ; 
the Senator was anxious to have done, and which | 
was not improper in itself. I 

The Senator has referred to the civil fund of j 
California. Its history, I think, was gone over at , 
the last session of Congress. The Senate will 
recollect that a bill to provide for the settlement of 
the accounts of officers, who had been connected 
with the receiptsanddisbursementsof that money, 
was introduced by me. It passed this body, and ! 
was sent to the House of Representatives. There 
it expired, no action being taken upon it. A sim- 
ilar bill has been introduced at the present session, ; 
and has passed the Senate. A recommendation j 
was sent to the Committee on Finance, at the last ' 
session, by the Secretary of War, urging that 
something should be done in relation to that fund, 
so that it might be received into the Treasury, 
which it could not be, without some legislative 
action of Congress. 

The bill which I introduced provided for its 
receipt into the Treasury in the first place, and 
accounting for it as if it had been properly re- 
ceived — legitimating the action of the Government 
de facto in regard to that fund — allowing the ex- 
penditure for army and navy purposes of so much 
of the funds as had been so applied. It also made 
allowance to the officers engaged in its receipt and 
disbursement; allowed a portion of it to be applied 
to the relief of destitute emigrants, to which pur- 

fose it was applied by order of General Smith, 
t allowed another portion to be applied to the 
patriotic purpose of paying the expenses of the 
California Convention, and giving to the State of ' 
California, in lieu of the outfit which the Terri- 
tories usually have received, the sum of $300,000. 
If that bill had been passed last year, all of the 
accounts which are now open and unadjusted, I 
might, perhaps, have been settled. At all events, ! 
the legal authority would have been given for their 
settlement, which does not now exist. Until the ! 
House of Representatives act upon the bill which | 
has gone from this body, or on some other bill 
intended to answer the same purpose, it will be ! 
impossible that these accounts should be adjusted; | 
because, the money not having been collected 
under the machinery of law which we have pro- 
vided for the collection of our revenue from cus- i 
toms, cannot go into the Treasury until Congress 
shall legitimate the action of the government de 
facto of California. 

I do not mean to waste the time of the Senate 
by speaking of the propriety of collecting customs 
in California, any further than to say this: The 
government de facto, (General Mason first and 
General Riley next, then acting as governor,) pur- 
sued the principle which the Senate recognized 
when we passed that bill; that is to say, that Cali- 
fornia having become a part of the United States, 
military contributions being no longer collected 
there, because there was no longer a state of war, 
foreign goods liable to duty should not be im- 
ported and landed there, in violation of the general 
revenue laws of the United States, and that, if they 
were imported and landed, those who did so must 
pay the duties. General Mason commanding there, 
previously to General Riley, established the tariff 
of 1846. General Smith, when he went there, in 
conjunction with Commodore Jones, recognized 
the propriety of the payment of duties, as deposits, 



by those who should bring dutiable goods into 
California. About this there can be no manner 
of question. The Senate thought so at the last 
session, and at this. Even the circular of Mr. 
Robert J. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury, 
which the Senator has read, does not furnish any 
authority to any one there to permit goods to be 
landed without the payment of duties. He says, 
" that if foreign dutiable goods should be intro- 
' duced there and shipped thence to any other port 
' or place of the United States, they would be 
' liable to all the penalties prescribed by law, when 
' such importation is attempted without the pay- 
' ment of duties." 

It is sufficient to say that the general revenue 
law forbids the introduction of foreign goods at 
any other place than a port of entry; that San 
Francisco was not a port of entry, because Con- 
gress did not perform its duty at the long session 
of 1848, and that the collection of duties was by 
military authority in both Mr. Polk's time and 
General Taylor's, without authority indeed from 
Washington, but justifiable under all the circum- 
stances. 

This fund, thus collected, went into the hands 
of these officers, and irregular as it was, perhaps 
it was a very fortunate thing for the service there. 
If the officers had not collected the money there 
would have been no means to pay the expenses of 
the California Convention, and I do not know that 
the State of California would have sprung into 
existence, and the Senate have had the benefit of 
the Senator's services here. There would have 
been no funds for the relief of destitute emigrants. 
The military defenses of the country would have 
been inadequate. 

The next subject of complaint which the Sen- 
ator from California makes, is in regard to certain 
Indian commissioners. Congress have appropri- 
ated at different times $50,000, I think, for the 
purjiose of negotiating Indian treaties in Califor- 
nia — $.'25,000 at one time, and jf,25,000 at another. 
Indian agents were appointed for California, who, 
under the provision of a general law requiring 
that the commissioners to negotiate Indian treaties 
should be persons in the employ of the Depart- 
ment, went out to California, and proceeded to 
enter upon the duties assigned to them. First, 
they met as a board, and, after having transacted 
some business as a board, I believe they divided 
the State into three divisions, each taking one 
division, and proposing to negotiate treaties in 
each. They were without funds. The $25,000 
appropriated by Congress had not reached them. 
They were anxious to obtain funds, and they 
made application to the collector of the customs at 
San Francisco to advance them the^aSjOOO appro- 
priated by Congress. That he did not do, but he 
advanced them $5,000, and advanced it to them 
upon the recommendation of the Senator from 
California himself. It seems that the Indians in 
California, who are numerous and warlike, were 
j .supposed to be in a state of great irritation. In- 
I deed, it was expected that a general Indian out- 
break would take place; and it was thought to be 
very desirable, in order to pacify the Indians, that 
these negotiations should be promptly entered 
upon. They could not be entered upon without 
money. The commissioners applied to the col- 
lector, and he advanced $5,000 for the purpose of 
enabling them to enter into negotiations. 



16 



But ihe Senator has fallen into an extraordinary : 
mistake, that another advance made by the col- 
lector was made on tlie basis of the $25,000 ap- 
propriation. Mr. King, besides advancing !j25, 000, 
advanced to the Gluartermaster's Department 
$150,000. The Senator suppose.'? that the 1^150,000 
were all for the purjiose of military escorts, which 
went with the Indian conmiissioners to negotiate 
treaties. That is a mrstake in fact, as I have 
ascertained. I have returns from the Department 
showing that but ^C0,000 of this money were ap- '• 
propriated to the su|iport of the e.?cort, or rather 
of the three escorts, which accfmipanied the com- 
missioners. Sixty thousand dollars was all of the 
expenditure of which any account has been re- 
ceived. The accounts yet to be received will not 
amount to more than 5^9,000 or $10,000; so that | 
the whole expense is but iJiTOjOOO, instead of 
$150,000. I 

Mr. GWIN. I was exceedingly anxious to 
get this information before 1 addressed the Senate 
on the subject. I applied to the duartermaster j 
General for a statement of the amount expended, 
and he told me that he could not make out a cor- 
rect one. I was anxious to ascertain the exact 
amount, and he told me that the returns of the 
assistant quartermaster had not come in in full, 
and those received were so mixed up with other 
expenditures that it was difficult to separate them. ; 
I said in my speech that this was the statement 
given to me. I found this amount, stated by Mr. 
King himself, to be the advance to the Gluarter- 
master's Department f jr the purpose of fitting out 
these expeditions. 

iMr PEARCE. I find no fault with the Sen- 
ator at all. I merely wanted to state the facts as 
I understand them now to exist. I have here a 
statement of the several drafts drawn by Major 
Allen, assistant quartermaster of Benicia, show- 
ing the amount received and expended by him. 
He received the amount of $150,000, but the 
amount expended for the military escorts was 
only about $()U,000. This is exclusive of the wear 
and tear of tlie public property, and also of the 
expenditures of Lieutenant Stoneman, whose ac- 
counts have not been received, but the whole of 
which will amount to not more than eight or ten 
thou.sand dollars. If that state of affairs be cor- 
rect, tlie expenditure for that purpose will be about 
$70,000. Then the other part of the advance is 
for moneys applied to the Quartermaster's Depart- 
ment in other particulars. This advance, if made 
by the collector out of United States money, was 
certainly irregular. Mr. King had no more right [ 
to advance the $5,000 than the $1.50,000 without in 
striictions from the Treasury Dep;irtnieiit; but it 
was athirjw which the imperious circumstances of 
the case, even in the opinion of the Senator from 
California, justified in the one instance, and which, 
I suppose, it inevitably follows must have been 
justifiable in the other. What would have been ' 
the use of advancing money to the Indian com- ' 
mi-ssioners if money was not advanced to the 
quartermaster to furnish the means of an escort 
to protect them ? 

Mr. GWIN. I hope the Senator will permit 
me to explain. Before 1 wrote the note to Mr. 
King in reference to the advance of $5,000, the 
appropriation of $25,000 had been made, and the ', 
Department of the Interior, I (hj not .say from neg- i 
lect, liud not placed the umouiit under the control 1 



of the commissioners. The $5,000 advance was 
not at all connected with the $150,000 loaned to 
the Gluartermaster's Department. That was made 
long before. The $5,000 was advanced on the ap- 
propriation made at the last session of Congress, 
and I stated that I did not hold myself ressponsible 
for the acts of those officers, but that on account of 
the pressing necessity of the case, Mr. King would 
be sustained if he made that small advance. Mr. 
King says, however, in the letter from w^iicit I 
have read, that the advance wa.'s placed to his pri- 
vate account, as it was expected that the next 
mail would bring authority to the Indian com- 
missioners to draw for the appropriation. 

Mr. PEARCE. Then it was so much the bet- 
ter, for it was no violation of law. The Senate 
will perceive the necessity of my making the dis- 
tinction between these appropriations when I read 
to them this extract from the Senator's speech. 

He says: 

'• I wisli it to be borne in mind that all tliis was to be done 
under an appropriation of $35, 000." 

After that statement, it becomes necessary for me 
to show why it was, that $150,000 were advanced 
by the collector, and that it was not advanced upon 
this appropriation of $25,000, but in consideration 
and in aid of the general military appropriation 
made for the military service of the Government, 
and in reference to that portion appropriated for the 
Q.uartermaster's Department. In fact, it is no in- 
convenience to the Government to have these ad- 
vances made, because the Quartermaster's Depart- 
ment must be furnished with funds by drafts 
drawn on California. There is a surplus of money 
there. I believe the receipts of the customs in 
California are larger than in most of the States of 
the Union, larger, perhaps, than they are even in 
the city of New Orleans. When there is a sur- 
plus there, it is a very convenient thing for the 
Treasury Department here to supply funds by 
drawing on the collecter at San Francisco. This 
advance of the collector was not before the appro- 
priations, as in another part of his speech, the 
Senator stated liecause the appropriations had 
been made; but it was a loan of money made in 
advance of the receipt of instructions to the collect- 
or of that fact. I do not know whether the Sen- 
ator stated that the $1.50,000 was advanced out 
of Mr. King's private funds as well as the $5,000. 
I suppose not, however; because I find a letter of 
the Secretary of the Treasury in which Mr. King 
is told that these advances are contrary to law. 
They did not think proper, however, to remove 
Mr. King for it, because his object was a good one. 
There was an extraordinary state of things pre- 
vailin2:. California is an immense territory. It 
is inhabited l>y a very large body of Indians, esti- 
mated, I believe, at 100,000. They are said to be 
the most warlike Indians on that side of the Con- 
tinent. They were irritated, and justly irritated, 
perhaps, by the condition of things then prevail- 
mg; and there was danger of an immediate out- 
lireak. I can show the Senate by a reference to a 
letter of one of the commissioners, what was the 
condition of things which called for prompt and 
energetic proceedings. 

In a letter dated January 5th, 1852, he says: 

" \Vi' Inund tlip Indians at open war witli itio whites in 
many parts of the Slate, and, with but few cxcrption-s, I 
believe in the soutlierii portion of the Stati:, they were 
hostile, and the war between them and the whites charac- 
terized by tliosc acts of rai)inc and murder usual in Indiau 



17 



warfare. The country called for some relief from such a | 
Slate of attairs. The miners had been driven from their i\ 
gold mines, and every day almost some outrage or injury j| 
was done to the person or property of the citizens, and, in 1 1 
return, many of the Indians were killed and their stores of I 
provisions destroyed." |i 

Such was the condition of t1iin§:s which required ', 
that the collector at San Francisco, disregarding '; 
the strict instructions of the Treasury Depart- : 
ment, should advance money to the Cluartermas- | 
ter's Department to fit out escorts for the Indian ' 
commissioners, wlio mig-ht pacify the Indians, 
and protect the people of 'the State. Let nie add, ; 
that the Quartermaster"'s Department here being 
in funds at the time promptly repaid the advance 
of$i50,006. 

The Senator from California then alludes to the 
course of action pursued by these commissioners. 
After the nesjotiation of treaties with the Indians 
they did not look to the instructions which had 
been sent to them, but went far beyond them, and 
the known constitutional rule, and disregarded 
the rights of the Executive and the Senate. They 
made'treaties with the Indians, not, to be sure, 
violative of instructions, (since the nature of the 
stipulations could not be foreseen or dictated iii 
Washington,) but they made treaties in which 
they stipulated to furnish the Indians with sup- 
plies of food, particularly beef cattle, to a very 
large amount. Having made these stipulations, 
they did not wait until the treaties were sent to the 
Executive, and ratified by the Senate: but they 
justified themselves, or attempted to justify them- 
selves, for furnisiiing these supplies in advance of 
the ratification of the treaties, on the ground of 
the imperative necessity of doing something to 
keep tlfe Indians quiet, and protect the people of 
the State. They said that the extraordinary con- 
dition of things there demanded that they should 
go beyond their instructions, and beyond the law. 
Whether this is so or not, we shall, perhaps, as- 
certain hereafter. They did this, however, with- 
out the knowledge of the Administration, and the 
Senator complains that they were not immediately 
dismissed for so doing. 

Mr, GWIN. I say that the Administration 
ought either to have approved or disapproved of 
their acts. If they approved them, the President 
should have sent t^h* treaties to the Senate-, but if 
he did not h« ought to have disavowed the policy 
adopted by the agents, and appointed others to 
carry out the exact views of the Administration. 

Mr. PEARCE. This is what the Senator said 
in his sxieech: 

"He (mcaninsthe Conimissioner of Indian Affairs) says 
that these agents had no axithority to exceed the amount of 
the appropriation. Why, then, are they not dismissed.' 
Here is an acknowlrdgment that they have exceeded their 
authority under the law, yet they are permitted to go un- 
punished," Sic. 

So the Senator goes on. Let me now state to 
the Senate what the ficts are. Not one of the 
original treaties, made by the joint board or by 
Mr. Barbour, had been received by the Executive 
\tp to the 24th day of January last, though some 
of Mr. Wozencrofi's had reached the Indian 
office during the year 1851, and none of them 
were submitted to the President till the last month. 
Mr. Barbour, one of the Indian commissioners, 
arrived at New Orleans, I believe, sometime during 
the last winter, and instead of coming on directly to 
Washington , went to Kentucky, where he brought 
with him the treaties made by himself and by the 



Board. He there received a letter in which he was 
strongly rebuked by the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs, for this violation of duty in undertaking to 
carry out the stipulations of treaties before the 
Executi%'e and the Senate had acted upon them. 
He answered the letter and defended himself. 
That answer is dated on the 5th of .January, of 
this year; but he did not come on to Washington 
until after the 24th of .January. Then he brought 
some of the treaties with him. Now is the Ex- 
ecutive to be blamed, as the Senator has blamed 
him, for not submitting these treaties instanter to 
the Senate for ratification, and to be charged with 
covering up the transactions of the Commissioner 
by withholding the ti-eaties ? Does not the Senator 
know that we may desire to be furnished with 
more accurate information in regard to them ? Does 
he not think that we ought to know the truth of 
the allegations made by the Indian commission- 
ers, before we .say whether the Government shall 
or shall not honor their drafts? Is not the Execu- 
tive to be furnished with this information as well 
as we? Ought not the President to be furnished 
with it before submitting to the Senate treaties so 
important? Ought not the President to have full 
lime for consideration, and ought he not to be 
allowed the opportunity to obtain from California 
the information which is necessary to enable hira 
to act properly on the subject? Whether the 
; treaties are to be confirmed or rejected, it is just 
as important that the Executive should have the 
I information on the subject as that the Senate should 
' have it, 1 would not willingly do the Senator 
! any injustice, but I suppose my opinion in this 
' respect does not differ from his, unless he changed 
it about the time he made his speec^h; for I am in- 
formed that the Senator from California expressed 
to the Commission<?r of Indian AtTairs and to the 
Secretary of the Interior a desire that the treaties 
should not now be sent to the Senate, but that 
they should be retained until the information was 
had. 

Mr. GWIN. It is altogether a mistake. I 
\ never made anv such declaration to anybody. 

Mr. PEARCE. There may have been a mis- 
! understanding between the Senator and these func- 
tionaries, but, undoubtedly, they so understood 
him. 

Mr. GWIN. This is a matter of some impor- 
tance to myself personally, and I will state the facts. 
The delegation from California had an interview 
with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. My 
colleagues of the other House are conversant with 
the discussions that occurred on that occasion. 
The Secretary of the Interior was to have been 
present, but was unavoidably prevented from at- 
tending. I then stated explicitly that the Admin- 
istration must take the responsibility either of ap- 
proving or disapproving of the treaties; that,. by 
withholding them from the .Senate, they were be- 
coming the fixed policy of the country. The 
Commissioner said he would assume no such re- 
sponsibility; that if we wanted the treaties we must 
call for them. One of my colleagues in the other 
House prepared a resolution calling for the inform- 
ation, based upon this declaration of the Com- 
missioner. I will state, furthermore, that we all 
understood at the time that the Department did 
not i;^tend to assume this responsibility, and that 
they'^did not intend to send these treaties here until 
they were called for by the delegation from Cali- 



18 



fornia. My colleague, [Mr. Weller,] who J^ad 
not then taken his seat in the Senate, has offered 
a resolution in Executive session, calling for these 
treaties. It is certainly a mistake that I advised 
that they should be withheld. 

Mr, PEARCE. That was n>y understanding. 
He said that if they were sent in they would be 
rejected proniptiy. 1 wrote to the Secretary of 
the Interior on the subject, and received in reply 
the following letter: 

Washington, ^pril 27, ISaX 

Dear Sip. : In answer to your in(|i>iry, I have to state 
lliat Senator Gwin and inysclf have had repeated conver- 
sations on the subject of the treaties with the California 
Indians, in vvhicli lie irnifoTin-ly cxiMessed himself as ojj- 
posed to their ratification, and objected to their tjcing sent 
to the Senate, saying he would have thenv immediately re- 
jected. He has concurred with ine in tlie opinion, that the 
treaties should be referred to the Su[>erintendent of Indifsn 
Affairs in Califoniia for investigatiof>, and that action here 
should be suspended to await the report of that otii-cer on 
the subject. Very resi>ectfully, your obedient servant, 

L. L-EA. 

Hon. A. H. H. Stuart. 

Mr, GWIN. That is a mistake altogether, I 
was desirous that the contracts for beef,, and the 
acts of the Indian ageitts, should be investigated. 
It had been charged that there was favoritism in 
giving these contracts, and e.Ktravagant prices had 
been paid for beef, all of which I wanted to be 
thoroughly investigated. Is that letter signed by 
the Secretary of the Interior.' 

Mr, PEARCE, It is from Mr. Lea, the Com- 
missiot)er of Indian Affairs, I have anotlier one 
from the Secretary of the Interiorj which corrob- 
orates what he says: 

Dear Sip.: My recollectimi oCSIt. Gvtin's opirtjons in 
regard to the L'alifwnia treaties, and the propriety of sus- 
pending ac!!0» on them until a report could be received 
from the SuperinteiKicnt of Indian Affairs, agrees entirely 
with Colonel Lea's. 

I have consulted, from time to time, with Mr. Gwin on 
these subjects, and supposed ' w.tis actir^g in conformity 
with liis opinions anil wishes, and felt njyself under obli- 
gations to him for liis friendly counsels. 

Very respectfullv, your obedient servant, 

AbEX. H. H. STUART. 

Hon. James A. 1'earce. 

Mr. GWIN. All I have to say is, that both 
are entirely mistaken, so far as my views in refer- 
ence to the treaties are concerned. There was 
nothing to investigate aa to the treaties. We all 
knew the policy they adopted. I have always 
been anxious that the Dep<»rtments should dis- 
avow the treaties, not withhold them from the 
Senate. I did not seek a collision with the Ad- 
ministration. I preferred that the President should 
disavow the policy of tlie agent.'?, rather than have 
the treaties sent to the Senate to be rejected, but 
it was due to the people of California that they 
should be acted on, and either rejected or ratified. 
The Secretary and Cnmmissioner, in thedischarge 
of the iin[)ortatit duties of their olfices, have not 
recollected the details of these conversations, prob- 
ably, as well as I, who was so deejily interested 
in the subject. 1 wauled the treaties rejected, 
either by the President or the Senate, and the con- 
tracts investigated; and also the acts of the agents, 
wlio might have been unjustly assailed. The Sec- 
retary and Commissioner are incapable of doing 
me injustice, as I know I am incapable of misrep- 
resenting their acts or opinions. 

Mr. Pl::.\RCE. How is it possible that drafts 
drawn in pursuance of treaty Btipuhitioiis are to be 



paid, unless the treaties are ratified.' Do you in- 
tend to comply with the stipulations of a treaty^ 
and reject the treaty itself.' It would require a 
great deal of consideration , before the Senate would 
enter on a course like that. There would be great 
incongruity in it. 

But there is another consideration why the Pres- 
ident should withhold these treaties, for the pres- ! 
ent, at all events. The Senator from California, ' 
I think, is mistaken in saying, that by withhold- 
ing them for the present, the policy recommended 
by them will become the fixed policy of the coun- 
try, I suppose it will become the fixed policy of 
the country, if they are ratified; but how can it be 
so if we do not ratify them, and if they are sus- 
pended from the consideration of the Senate? 
Certainly no authority ia given to the treaties, na 
authority is given to any acts of the commission- 
ers in relation to them, unless the Senate ratify 
them. Ex niliilo, nihil Jit. You cannot make the 
treaties valid, but by their ratification. There are 
very good reasons vfhy-they should not be sent to 
the Senate for confirmation now. I find at this 
very time — at least at the date of the last advices 
from Californii — that the stipulations of these 
treaties are under discussion in the Legislature of 
that Slate, They seem to know very well there, 
what are their provisions, and there is some differ- 
ence of opinion as to whether they should be rati- 
fied or rejected, I have seen a majority and a 
minority report in the Legislature of California; 
the former recomn-sending the rejection of the 
treaties, and that the power of the State of Cali- 
fornia should be employed to secure their rejection; 
and the latter very guardedly advising against this 
course. There is also a resolution pending in the 
Legislature, froni the majority of the committee, 
of a rather extraordinary character. They recom- 
mend that the State shall insist upon the observ- 
ance of what they say is the policy which lias 
prevailed in every other State; that is, the entire 
exclusion of the Indians of California from that 
State. They insist that those people, said to be 
100,0(X) in numlier, shall ije driven out of the limits 
of the Slate, and shall not be allowed a solitary 
reservation. They complain of the reservations 
which, it is said, the commissioners have guaran- 
tied to them by the treaties which they have made. 
They say that the Indians mu.'-jt not be allowed to 
hold any of the jiublic lands in the State, but must 
be removed beyond its jurisdiction; that the'lndian 
shall not be allowed to have an acre of tliat herit- 
age which God gave him, and which was \na l)efore 
the white man first landed on the ahores of Amer- 
ica. WiuU is to become of theae Indians.' Where 
are they to go.' How are we to remove llicm ? 
Will you drive them out at the fioiiit of the bay- 
onet, or purchase their territory, from time to tin^e, 
at the expen.se of untold millions.' Will you send 
ihem beyond the confines of the United States, 
into the po.ssessions of our weak neighbor, iMex- 
ico .' You cannot do that, because it would vio- 
late your treaty atijiulations. Will you send them 
up to the great valley of the Salt Lake, and con- 
sign them to the tender mercies of the Mormons.' 
Will you send them to the Territory of Oreijon, 
where t!ie same system of exclusion is to be re- 
peated .' Will you turn them into the great deserts 
beyond the Sierra Nevada, there to meet a fate 
more drentl fill than almost any of which the im- 
agination can- conceive.' If you compel them to 



19 



such an existence as that, theirs would be worse j 
than the wanderings of the tribes of Israel for | 
forty years in the desert. There would be no pil- j 
lar of fire by night, or cloud by day, to guide | 
them. There would be no refreshing mauna in > 
the wilderness for them. They must all faint, ] 
despair, and die in the deserts, to which your sel- 
fish violence would drive them; and rather than 
do that, it would be humanity for you to collect 
tli«m in groups, and treat them according to the '■ 
example of the French Revolution, with noyades j 
and fusillades, drowning them by hundreds, and 
shooting them down by squadrons ! Sir, this In- 1 
dian policy requires more consideration. While! 
it is very desirable, I admit, to remove them from | 
the neighborhood of the white man, there is a | 
limit to that, and that limit you have reached. ] 
East of the Rocky Mountains, you have removed | 
many Indian tribes beyond the white settlements; | 
and, since 1829, have extinguished their title to 
120,000,000 acres, at an expense, it is said, ofi 
$72,000,000! You have congregated on the bor- j 
ders of Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas, vast i 
hordes of savage Indians. Between the prairies j 
■east of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, vast ; 
deserts extend — deserts furnishing very little sub- 1 
sistence, and the scantiest support to the nomadic j 
tribes who roam over them, who live more upon , 
the plunder of our Mexican neighbors, of the 
v/hite settlements of the frontier, and of the bands 
of emigrants to the western coast, than by any pro- 
duct of industry, or even by the chase. Now, what 
are we to do with them? This is the great ques- 
tion. I do not undertake to say what the policy 
of the Government should be; but I say this, that 
they who advocate the exclusion of so formidable 
and numerous a band of Indians as those in Cali- 
fornia, must provide some other place for them; 
must be prepared with some expedient which 
shall not shock humanity. This grave question 
now agitates the Legislature of California, and is 
a subject for the President's consideration at this 
moment. He must determine for himself to give 
some recommendation to us in regard to the sub- 
jects, before he sends those treaties to the Senate 
of the United States. Where is the liability to 
blame, then, which can be justly thrown upon the 
President for taking time to consider a question so 
vast and momentous as this — because he waits to 
know public sentiment in California— the action 
of the Legislature and the further information 
which both the Senator and myself desire. 

The Senator complains, however, that these 
Indian commissioners have not Ijeen removed. He 
says they ou"-lit to have been removedpromptly. 

Mr. GWIN. I said that if the President dis- 
approved of their acts, he should remove them. 

Mr. PEARCE. The President cannot, and I 
am sure, does not doubt that, to make treaty stip- 
ulations, and then assume the power which docs 
not belong to any officer of the Government, not 
even to the President himself, of undertaking to 
execute those stipulations before they are approved 
by him, and ratified by the Senate, is a palpable 
wrong. It is a clear usurpation. I have notcon- 
versed with the President on the subject, but I am 
sure that he cannot do otherwise than condemn 
their conduct as a violation of their duty. The 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs long since did so. 
Whether the President and the Senate, when they 
come to consider the circumstances shall suppose 



that the emergency was so extraordinary as to 
excuse these commissioners, I cannot undertake 
to say; nor do I consider it fit further to discuss 
a matter which properly belongs to the Executive 
sessions of the Senate. 

But the Senator complains that they have not 
been dismissed. Now, let us look at the facts. 
There were three Indian agents and one sub-agent 
appointed for California. One ofthe Indian agents, 
Mr. McKee, protests that he had nothing to do with 
the beef contracts, and says that he always advised 
to the contrary. In his report to the Department, 
speaking of these contracts, he says: 

" I have steadily opposed tlie making of any contract im- 
plicating the Govi-riinient until after ijie treaties were rati- 
fied, except small and immediately pressing demands at the ( 
time of making treaties, and have so advised my col- 
leagues." 

If that has been his course, surely the Adminis- 
tration is not called upon to remove him. Mr. 
! Johnson, the sub-agent, has been removed. Mr. 
Barbour, one of the agents, is the individual who 
brought on the treaties here about the first of Feb- 
ruary, of the present year. He was immediately 
called upon personally for explanations, as he had 
before been called upon by letter. A brief time 
was asked by his friends, in order that he might 
make further explanations, and give further inform- 
ation in regard to the matter. During the time thus 
allowed him for that purpose, he resigned. It is 
but just to this gentleman to say, that at the time 
of his appointment to office, he bore the very high- 
est character for integrity and honor, and indiscreet 
as his course may have been, I am unwilling to 
declare that character forfeited. Now, there re- 
! mains only Mr. Wozencroft, and I have been told 
that he was considered one of the ablest and best of 
the commissioners. [Mr. G win assented.] Why 
j was he not removed ? I do not know that I can state 
all the reasons, nor do I know that it would be ad- 
I visable for me to state all the reasons for retaining 
j him in office. There is, however, one reason 
which 1 will state. It is desirable, as the Senator 
i from California thinks, and as I think, to make 
j certain inquiries in California in regard to the ne- 
cessities of the case. Mr. Wozencroft is one ofthe 
i sources of information. We can more certainly 
I obtain information from him, and more reliable 
j information wliile he is under his official respon- 
I sibiiity than if he were removed; for I take it, that 
j if he were removed he would not trouble himself 
I to give VIS any information at all. That is one 
' good reason for not removing him. 
i I think I have now shown that the Administra- 
I tion is not culpable for what it has done in regard 
I to these Indian agents. It has retained one of them 
I in office, \vho appears not to be connected with 
any improper contracts, wliile it has retained an- 
j other under the expectation of obtaining from hirn, 
' under his official responsibility, valuable inform- 
ation in regard to the proceedings of the commis- 
sioners. I think that the Administration is thus 
I vindicated from these charges. 

I turn now from the speech ofthe Senator from 

' California, and I propose to make some remarks 

on the observations which fell from the Senator 

from Virginia, [Mr. Huntf.r.] I think that the 

Senator from Virginia has hardly done the Secre- 

I tary of War justice in regard to the expenditures 

I of his Department, and the reforms which he has 

I attempted. We all know very well that the ex- 



20 



peiisesaftheArmy havebeeii increased, and that the 
expenditures for the (Quartermaster's Department 
have been enormous. I find no fault with the Sen- 
ator from Virginia for endeavoring to exact the 
most rigid economy in the military service. On the 
contrary, it gives me great pleasure to cooperate 
with him, as I geirei'ally do, on such questions, j 
But I think he has not made due allowance forall 
the difficultieg which have been in the way; nor | 
has he given due credit for the exertions which tlie ■ 
Secretary of War has made. I find, in the speech j 
of the Senator, the.*;* remarks: j 

" I think I shall show, that uhittever reforms Iiave been 
made, wljatcver steps hare betii tivkcii towards Fel'oriii, (and i 
some have been taken,) have originated since the criticism 
on the estimates otlast year, and probaWy origjiiated out of 1 
the actioii d'Cojigress." 

Again, speaking of soine of the reforms which 
might have been made, he seems to think there has J 
been some want of administrative genius and tal- 
ent, and that, but for this want, the expenditures ' 
of the Army inii^ht have been reduced, but that '■ 
nothing of this sort had been done until very re- 
cently. Then, the Senator referred to an order, 
issued by the War Depanroeiit, which I find re- 
ported in the Globe, as stated by the Senator, to 
have been issued on the first of January last. 

Mr. HUNTER. It was the first of' January, 
1851. ' 

Mr. PEARCE. The order was issaed on Jan- • 
uary 8, 1851. In regard to the general expenses 
of the War Department, I have said before, that \ 
they have increased very much of late years. ) 
But why? The increase of this expenditure is, in 
part, the direct result of the action of Co!>gress. ! 
Von have increased the Army largely since the 
year 1845. I have here a statement of the organ- 1^ 
ization and strei>gth of the AriTty at these two 
periods — 1845 and the present time. On the 1st day 
of January, 1845, the orgai>ized strength of the 
general staff corps amounted to five hundred and 
sixty men. On the 1st of January, 1852, the organ- 
ization of the same corps was seven hundred and 
thirteen, while its actual strength w^is six hundred , 
and ninety-seven. The organiz;ition of the two 
regiments of dragoons, on the 1st January, 1845, 
was one thousand two hundred and ninety-eight; 
their actual strength, one thousand one hundred ' 
and eight. At the preseiit time, their organiza- 
tion is one thousand seven hundred and thirty-two; 
their actual strength, one thousand three hundred 
and sixty-tliree. The regiment of mounted rifle- 
men WHS not known to the law in 1845. It was 
created during the war, and has been continued ' 
since. The organization of this force amounts to 
nine hundred men; its actual strength five hundred 
and ninety-seven. The artillery, in 1845, had an 
organization of two thousand three liundred and ; 
forty; now it is three thousand two hundred and j 
four. Tlie infantry then had an organization of 
four thousand four hundred and fifty-six; now j 
they amount to five thousand seven hundred and j 
sixty-two. In ]845, there were three hundred and ;j 
seventy-three detached soldiers, and now there are 
one thousand one hundred and three. Tliese are | 
recruits at military stations, who are not yet suf- !| 
ficiently instructed to join their corps. Thus, it J 
will be seen, that the sum total of the organi- j 
zation of the Army, in 1845, was only eight thou- i 
.sand six hundred and fifty-four, and now it is [ 
twelve thousand three hundred and eleven; while || 



the actual strength, according to the last returrSy 
was ten thousand five hundred and thirty-eight. 

In addition to that, it must be recollected tliat 
the rifle regiment is a mounted regiment. The cost 
of a mounted regiment is much greater than that 
of a regiment of infantry. It must be recollected, 
too, that by the act of 1850, we have authorized 
the mounting of some of the infatrtry; and llie ex- 
pense of these is very much increased. We have 
not increased the officers, but the rank and file, by 
adding twenty-four to every company of di-agoons; 
ten to every company of mounted riflemen; thirty- 
two to every coinpany of aitillery; ten to every 
company of light artillery; and thirty-two to 
every company of infantry. This has been the 
direct action of Congress. A great deal of the 
expei>diture has arisen from the indirect action of 
Congress — from annexation, frot« war, from Mex- 
ican cessions. The great increase of expenditures 
in theQ.uartermaster's DepartmeiTt has been owing 
to these causes. Within the last seven years you 
have acquired a territory larger than all the terri- 
tory you had before. You had only a little more 
than a million sqijare miles of land, and you have 
now eleven huirdred and thirty-odd thousand 
square miles added to your territory. In addition 
to this, it must be recollected that this is not a 
fertile country; it is not a settled country; and it 
is not an accessible country. It is remote from 
the central seat of your civilization. It is unpro- 
vided with the facilities of comiTiunication. It has 
neither i^opulation nor production-^. It is infested 
with bands of predatory Indians. But your fron- 
tier settlements must be protected; and by troops 
stationed at posts very reinote, hundreds, and in 
some instances thousands of miles from the niart,« 
and highways of trade. You must convey provis- 
ions to the troops for the protection of your settlers- 
and your emigrants. It is an onei-ous expense — an 
e:xpense which, by the uttnost care and economy, 
cannot be brought down to anything like the ex- 
pense of transportation before we acquired these 
territories. You owe protection to the poorest 
settler, upon the most reinote and lonely spot 
v.'ithin your limits, as strongly as to any one set- 
tled in the richest and most populous part of the 
old States; and you can neither protect the fron- 
tier-man, nor give security to the emigrant, nor 
defend the advance of your settlement.^, except by 
military force supported at an immense expense. 

These are evils which were not unforeseen. I 
recollect that, in 1847, when I had occasion to 
make some remarks on the Mexican war, I alluded 
to the necessary increase of expenditure which 
would inevitaljty take place, if you acquired these 
very distant and unsettled Teiritories. Everybody 
knew that it would be so.. Formerly your mili- 
tary posts were stationed near to steamboat navi- 
gation. Tl'.e most remote post yo" had was but 
ninety miles distant from steamboat navigation. 
Many of thein were directly accessible to steam- 
boats. Others were within six, and some twenty- 
four miles distant; and there was but one post as 
far distant as ninety miles. Now, you have to 
drag flour, and pork, and other provisions, some- 
times a distance of a thousand miles; and that not 
over a country where there are ijeaten roads, 
where there are any settlements, where there are 
any products of which the escorts can avail them- 
selves; but where, very often, there is not even 
grass or water for their animals, or where the 



21 



■scanty products of the earth are sold at the most 
«normous prices. 

This accounts., in the main, for the very large 
increase of expenditure which has taken place. 
But I undertake to say, that the present Secretary 
of War has reiade v-ery judicious and praiseworthy 
efforts to reduce these-expenditures. The Senator 
from Virginia hardly does juetice to him, when he 
says that'tlTese reforms we're only attempted very 
■recently. That is a comparative term. The 
phrase •« very recently," or " very lately," may 
imean one thing, or another, according to the siib- 
ject-matt-er of which the person is speaking. If 
you were speaking of the geological structure of 
the earth, a period of six centuries would be very 
recent. If you were speaking of the constitutional 
history of the United States, the tenth part of that 
time would be ancient — for our whole existence, 
as an independent nation, has only been about 
■seventy-five years. When you speak of reforms, 
and the attempts of the Secretary of War to reform 
abuses, as having been recently done, you must 
took at the circumstances under which, and the 
time at which, he came into office. 

T think it was the 17th of August, 1850, when Mr. 
■Conrad was appointed to the War Department. 
What was the condition of public affairs at that 
time? Many judicious persons thought that the 
Union was shaking to its center. We know how 
Congr-ess was agitated; that" the times were sadly 
■out of joint;" that scarcely anything was thought 
■of by the members of this body, and of the other 
House, except those agitating questions which had i 
fio long distracted us, and impeded all our regular 
legislation. It is not to be supposed that the Ex- 
■ecutive could have been inattentive to those grave 
<|uestions; that the members of the Administra- 
tion should not have been anxiously employed in 
•copsidering the consequences which might result 
from one course of conduct or another, adopted by 
Congress. Besides, during the scvseion of Con- 
gress there is always a great deal of current busi- 
ness constantly calling upon the attention of the 
Secretary. Congress adjourned about the first of 
October, and met again about the first of December. 
Two months was all the time in which the Secre- 
tary of War could be said to have had any leisure 
to acquaint himself with the organization and gen- 
era] operations of his Department; much less had 
he time to inquire into all the minute details of the 
servie*, so as to ferret out abuses which had ex- 
isted under former Administrations, and which had 
defied the economy, and wisdom, and vigilance of 
other Secretaries for many years. Therefore, it is 
hardly reasonable to suppose that Mr. Conrad, in 
80 short an interval of time, could detect and cor- 
rect all the errors of his predecessors. In very 
iittle more than four months after he had been in 
office, what did the Secretary do ? Allow me to 
say, that, in the report which he submitted to the 
Senate in 1850, he spoke of the probability of there 
being abuses, and I will show, that while his sus- 
picions were then awakened, he took a very early 
opportunity of endeavoring to put an end to these 
abuses. I will show that, at a time which, con- 
sidering his period of service, was quite early in 
his administration, or quite early enough to justify 
the praise of economy and vigilance, which I feel 
bound, in all sincerity, to give him — within a 
short time he issued sundry regulations, intended 
to have, and which 1 shall show have had, a most 



happy effect on the service. On the 8th of Jan- 
uary, 1851, the Secretary issued this order: 

i GENERAL ORDERS— No. 1. 

War Department, Aduitant General's t»FricE, ) 

1 VVashincton, Ja7iuai«/ 8,1851. J 

■ 1. To promote the health of the uoops, and io reduce the 
i expense of subsisting the Army, the commanding officer of 
: every permanent post and station where the public lands 

are s"uf!ieient, or private land can be leased on reasonable 

terms, will annually cultivate a A-ii'cfeen »arrf«>i with the sol- 

: diers under his conimand, to enable him to supply the hos- 

i piial and men with necessary vegetables throughout the 

I vear. 

I '2. A evstem of more extended cultivation will also be 

conmienced as soon as possible at such posts as may be de- 

I signaled bv department commanders, under instructions 

I from General Head Quarters, in Military Departments Nos. 

6. 7,8, (Texas.) 9, (New Mexico,) 10, (California,) and 11, 

(Oregon.) This field cultivation will be carried on, under 

' the direction ofcotnuiandingofficersof posts, by the troops, 

i and, at stations within tlie Indian country, by hired Indians 

; to be paid out of tlie proceeds of the farms. The field or 

farm culture wilt embrace, as far as practicable, grains for 

! bread and forage, and long forage. 

' 3. Supplies for component [larts of the ration, and of for- 
age, not exceeding the quantity required for the garrison, 
will be delivered to, and receipted for, by tite assi.-;tant 
I commissaries and assistant quartermasters of posts, and 
be paid for by them at tlie following rates: At the posts in 
' Departments" Nos. 6, 9, and 11, according to the market 
; price in Si. Louis, and at the posts in Departments 7,8, and 
i 10, according to the market price in New Orleans. 
I 4. From the proceeds of the sales above directed, will be 
deducted the expenditures on account of seeds, farming im- 
, plements, rent of land, and hire of Indian labor, aird the 
j surplus will be equally distributed, quarterly, by the assist- 
airt commissary of subsistence, under the direction of the 
commanding officer, among the enlisted men of the several 

I garrisons, on separate receipt rolls prepared for this pur- 
pose. 

5. The assistant commissaries of subsistence will make 
i; all necessary expenditures for the farm cultivation, on the 
; warrants of"' the commanding ofTicers of their posts, and 
I; will render a quarterly returtr of all receipts and expendi- 
Ij tures on sucli accounts to the .Adjutant General throuah the 
I! commanding otlieer of the post, according to the printed 
1[ blanks which will be furnished for that purpose. 
! 6. The commanders of departments will immediately on 
j the receipt of this order, report what portion of land in the 
! vicinity of the posts within their departments is adapted 

■ to cultivation, and also what changes may be made in the 
i present position of the troops which, without impairing the 
|; defense of the frontiers, will atl'ord more suitable locations 
ji with a view to field cultivation. 

h 7. .\s soon as farm cultivation has been ordered at parti- 
i cular posts, the commanders thereof will adopt all neces- 

I I sary measures to carry it on successfully, and immediately 
the'reafter report the measures adopted. They will report 
the state and prospect of their crops in the month of July 
of each vear ; on the 1st day of October of each year, the 
quantityof each article cultivated and actually gathered in. 

8. Whenever an officer is transferred or relieved from the 
command of a post where a garden or farm is cultivated, 
the vegetables, grain, and long forage on hand, will be re- 
ceipted for by his successor. He will make a statement of 
their condition, amount, &c., one copy of which will be 
forwarded to the Commissary General of Subsistence, and 
a duplicate entered in the postorderbook for the inspection 
of the proper authorily. 

9. For any improper management, or loss not strictly un- 
avoidable, the commanding officers will be held responsible. 

By order of the Secretary of War: 

R. JONES, Adjutant General. 

I do not know that I need read all these details; 
but the Senate will see from them that the Secre- 
tary of War has gone very minutely into the mat- 
ter — that he has not merely suggested the general 
leading idea of cultivating grain and forage at these 
distant posts, but that he has been cautiotis and 
precise in prescribing all the necessary details. 

Mr. HUNTER. Is the Senator aware that 
thatisa mere revival of an orderissued when Mr. 
Calhoun was Secretary of War.' 

Mr. PEARCE. 1 am awnre that the Senator 
said, in his speech, that it was the mere revival of 



n 



an order issued by Mr. Calhoun; but pray, who ' 
abandoned the practice? Under what circum- ^ 
stances was it abandoned? Does the Senator 
know with what effect it was pursued under Mr. 
Calhoun? I understand that it has lain dormant 
for many years. But is praise the less due to this 
officer that lie had revived a very good regulation 
long since abandoned, which had escaped the vigil- 
ance and economy of his predecessors? Is he not 
to have due credit because others have forgotten, 
or because Mr. Calhoun had originated it? I do 
not know that the Secretary of War claims the 
originality of this idea; but I dare say he never 
heard of Mr. Calhoun's order before, or, if he did, 
he must have supposed that it had been dispensed 
with for very sufficient reasons. I suspect the 
fact to be, that the order was not found to an- 
swer .the purposes in view. The truth is, that 
soldiers do not make very good farmers, and 
farmers do not make very good soldiers. Besides, 
in Mr. Calhoun's lime our military posts were ac- 
cessible by steam navigation. The products which 
they required for forage and subsistence were 
raised in very great plenty, and at very cheap 
rates, throughout the country where they were 
stationed, and could probably be supplied at a cost 
quite as little as that of raising them; for when 
soldiers woik as farmers or laborers they are paid 
for it. When they do such work, they get eighteen 
cents a day additional pay. 

I suspect that if there was very much paid for 
this extra work, it would cost rather more than 
the amountof the produce which they would raise. 
Circumstances are now altered. There is a new 
state of things. Since it costs forty-eight dollars 
to get a barrel of pork, and thirty-two dollars to 
get a barrel of flour to Taos, in New Mexico, per- 
haps it may turn out to be a good thing to estab- 
lish this system of cultivation at our distant posts. 
This is what the Secretary of War has attempted. 
The Senator did give him some little credit for at- 
tempting it. But I think he destroyed the grace 
of his concession when, v/ithout his usual gener- 
osity, he suggested, that Mr. Calhoun, thirty-fou ■ 
years ago, had tried the same thing. If Mr. Cal- 
houn tried it and abandoned it, certainly we should 
give the present Secretary the credit of reviving 
what the Senator considers a good thing. 

As for myself, I am somewhat doubtful as to 
the utility of it. These distant regions in which 
the posts are located are very barren, and gener- 
ally it is very difficult to olitain a good military 
site, and at the same time proper soil for profitable 
cultivation. I do not know that the system could 
be carried out very successfully. Still the attempt 
is a good one, and the Secretary is entitled to credit 
for it. 

Then, on the 25th of February, 1850, the Sec- 
retary of War issued another order to which I 
wish to refer. I beg leave to say, that both these 
orders originated before the criticism of Congress 
of which the Senator from Virgima has spoken. 
The action of Congress was at the close of the 
session, when itrefused to pass the appropriations 
according to the estimates, anrl was striking in the 
dark — when it cut down the appropriations for 
the duartermaster's Department from i>4,0()0,000 
to $'3,0l)(),0()0. That was the criticism of Con- 
gress. But before that criticism had reached the 
ears of the Secretary, he had attempted this im- 
provement, by the order of January H, lb'5], which 



J have read. The? order of February 25, 1851, also- 
preceded the action of Congress, though only by a 
few days. On that day he issued this circular: 
GE.XEiRAL ORDERS— No. 13. 

Headquarters of the Army, \ 

AdjotaNt General's Office, ^ 

Washington, Fchruary 28, 18.51. ) 

I. The followin;^ order received Croiii tlie Secretary of 
War is publi.stied lor tlie information and guidance of all 
oliicers of tlie Army : 

War Department, > 
Washington, TV/trwori/ 2.j, 1851. ) 

Tlie enormous expenditures of the .Army, particularly in 
the Quartermaster's Department, a/ii :-everal instances of 
recklkiss extravaf^ance Uiat have recently been brought to 
its notice, have led the Department to infer that a nxire 
rigid economy might be practiced' than has lately been ob- 
served. 

Officers of every branch of the service are therefore no- 
tified, that in reg:ird to allowanees of every description a 
rigid adherence to the prescribed rt^guiations will be strictly 
enforced. 

Olficers of the Subsistence and Quartermaster's Depart- 
ment will endeavor by every possible means to reduce tlie 
expendUures, parucularly in the item of transportation. 

No barracks or other building will be constructed, unless 
by order of the Department, except such as are indispensa- 
bly necessary for the immediate and temporary accommo- 
dation of the troops. See paragraphs 97U and 971, General 
Regulations of the Army, 1841. These barracks must be 
of the cheapest kind, and in their construction, as well a* 
in procuring fuel and forage, the soldiers should be em- 
ployed more than they now are. 

The Department confidently relies on the zealous co- 
operation of the officers in its efforts to reduce the expend- 
itures as low as can be done consistently with the health 
and comfort of the troops. And the commanders on the 
frontiers should understand that offieers of the stalT are 
assigned to duty as their iissUtants — that it is the duty 
all of commanding officers to watch over the public ex- 
penditures in every branch of the service within their com- 
mands, and that for all excesses, such commanders are 
held responsible, [n cnses where this duty is neglected, the 
Inspector General, and tlie Quartermaster General will 
make a special report for the action of the General-in-Chief 
or the Secretary of War. 

C. M. CONRAD, Secretary of War. 

II. The following are the paragraphs of the " General 
Regulations " of 1841, cited above : 

970. No barracks, quarters, or hospitals, shall be erected 
at the public exp(Mise, but by order of tlie Secretary of 
War, and according to plans which he shall have approved ; 
and no officer, whatsoever may be his rank, shall make the 
slightest alteration in any plan of barracks, quarters, or 
hospital, so approved, without the order of the Secretary of 
War, coinmnnicatcd tinough the Quartermaster General. 
These restrictions do not extend to temporary huLs, where 
troops may be compelled, by the unhealthiness of their po- 
sitions, to leave their quarters during the summer season, 
or where, from the circumstances of the service, they may 
be reciuired to occupy positions on the Indian frontier in 
advance of the established posts. 

971. No changes or alterations are to bo made in the bar- 
racks, quarters, or hospitals, at permanent or established 
posts, but by the authority of the Secretary of War, com- 
municated througli the Quartermaster General ; slionlil any 
change or alteration involving expense he maih; with- 
out such authority, the officer causing it shall jiol only l>e 
charg.'d with the whole expense incurred, but also with 
that of rc>toriiig the barr.acks, quarters, or hospitals thus 
altered, to their former condition. 

Hy command of .Major General Scott : 

R. JONES, Militant General. 

I need not read the rest of this order. I have read 
enough to show its character. Now, I have to say 
thatunderits operation, ami under the opei'ation of 
an order suliserjuently issued, by which the Secre- 
tary directed all the quartermasters and officers in 
tiie employ of the Army on the frontier, to dis- 
charge the civil employees in the service of the 
Government who could lie discharged, a very great 
reduction has been made in that foi'ce, and a very 
great reduction of expeiidit'.ire has resulted. ( 
have a report which was received within the last 



23 



few days at the Department, showing a reduction 
of the civil employees of the Army in those dis- 
tant departments. I refer to General Tw'gff ^ 
division, General Hitchcock's division, and to that 
miliiarv department which is under the command j 
of Colonel Sumner. I will remark here, in pass- , 
in-, that the Secretary of War very soon per- } 
ceived the necessity of appointing to those distant | 
posts officers of the greatest energy, not merely 
Gallant men, whose service had long since been 
reco-nized, but men who added to gallantry, in- 
telligence of the very highest professional char- 
acter, and who added to that intelligence extraor- 
dinary zeal and energy. I believe he selected 
three of the very best officers in the service Gen- 
eral Hitchcock, whose professional and other 
merits are very well known, commands the Pa- 
cific division. General Twiggs commands the 
division in which Texas is situated, (both good 
Democrats;) and Colonel Sumner, an officer who 
has no superior of his age in the Army, has been 
appointed to the command of New Mexico. It 
is under the supervision of these intelligent, eth- 
cient, and zealous men that the Secretary hopes to 
carry out the reforms which he has projected, and 
already we have evidence of the fruits of these 
reforms in this fact: When the present Secretary 
of War came into office, or a short time aftex- . 
wards, the civil employees in that branch of the n 
military service were not quite seventeen hundred, | 
but very near it. Now they only amount to some- : 
thing over six hundred. One thousand and three 
of them have been discharged since the Secretary 
issued these orders— orders to which he was not , 
prompted, I think, by the criticism of Congress, ! 
but which originated in his own good sense, and i 
which spruna; from his vigilant watchfulness over j 
the operations of his Department, and a desire to do j 
that which the condition of the Treasury required. 
One thousand and three of these employees have ; 
already been dismissed, and the reduction of the 
expenditure of the auartermaster's Department, 
in consequence of these dismissals, will be over! 
$600 000 a year. I doubt whether any Adminis- 1 
tration for a long time past has done any single ^ 
act to reform abuses so productive of good fruits ; 

as that. . 1 • 1 .1, > 

The Senator from Virginia seemed to think that , 
it was very wrong to have our troops m New ', 
Mexico, Texas, and California quartered about ; 
the towns. He thought that some reform ought 
to be effected in that particular. The Senator 
surely could not have read the instructions of the 
Secretary of War to Colonel Sumner, in which 

he says: 

War Department, 1 

Washington, ^Spril 1, 1851. ) 
Colonel E. V. Sdmner, 

1st Dri:<:,oons, St. Louis, Missouri: 

Sir : You liave been selected to take the command of the 
Ninth Military Department, and will repair to it as early as 
Dracticable. , . j •„ 

It i-i believed that material changes ought to be made in 
that depaitment, both with a view to a more efficient pro- 
tection of 1 10 country, and to a diminution of expenses. 

You will therefore, immediately on assuming the com- 
mand, revise the whole system of defense ; you will exam- 
ine particularly whether the posts now occupied by the 
troops are the most suitable, and if not, will make such 
changes as you inav deem advisable. ■ , k 

III Uie seiectii.n of posts you will be governed mainly by 
the following circumstances, viz : 

1st. The protection of New Mexico. 

"d The defense of the Mexican territory, which we are 
bound to protect against the Indiana within our borders. 



3d Economy, and facility in supporting the troops, par- 
ticularly in regard to forage, fuel, and adiiptation ol thesur- 
ro^indiii" counirv to cultivation. 

Tie Department is induced to believe that both economy 
and efficiency of the service would be promoted by renioving 
the troops out of the towns where they are now stationed, 
and stationing them more towards the frontier, and nearer 

'"Fron/'air'the information that has reached the Depart- 
ment, it is induced to believe that no permanent pi'^ce can 
cKist with the Indians, and no treaty w.l be regauled ly 
them, until thev have been made to teel ilie p<.wer ot our 
ariii-^ You will therefore, as early as practicable, make an 
expedition against the Navajoes, and also one against the 
Utahs and Apaches, and inflict upon them a severe chas- 
tisement. If vou should succeed in capturing any ol them, 
vou will retain them as hostages for the l^aithlul observance 
of any treatv that may be made with them. 
' In all negotiations and pacific arrangements with the 
i Indians, you will act in concert with the Supfiruitement of 
Indian Aflairs in New Mexico, whom you will allrn> to 
! accompanv vou in the expeditions into the Indian territory, 
if he shouiddeem it proper to do so, and to whom you will 
alTord every facilitv for the discharge of his duties. 

Instructiims ^vili be given by the Department of the In- 
1 teiior to the superintendents and agents in all their transac- 
Stions will, the Indians to act in consultation and concert 
with the military authorities. 

You will use every effort to reduce the enormous expend- 

itur.; of the army in New Mexico, (^^"'•""''■'V '" ' '« 

Quartermaster's and Subsistence Departments. ^ ou will 

.criuinize the administration of these de,,artnients, and 

I rigidly enforce all regulations having reference to the econ- 

; 'Tt' "i Sv«rthat the number of employees may be 
I diminished, without inconvenience to the service, and t la 
i ma erial changes may be made in the ration whereby tlie 
cost may bo reduced,' without interfering with the health or 
i comfort "of the soldiers. You are authorized to make all 
' ! such changes as you mav deem advisable, 
i ^ For the purpose of enabling you to execute ihe ««J"eral 
OnlerNo. 1. (current series,) you will be supplied with 
:| such seed, agricultural implements, &c., as you may 

""in'carrying out these measures, and such others as your 
own judgment mav hereafter suggest, you will ''xerc'.-e a 
iargerdi>cietion than would be allowable "here the en - 
munication between the commander and the Department .3 
more frequent and more rapid. 

Very respectfully, vour obedient servant. 

Cm. CONRAD, Secretary of ^ar. 

The criticism of my friend from Virginia was 
made a few days ago, and the Secretary haa anti- 
cipated him as far back as April, 1S51, of which 
fact I suppose the Senator was not before apprise^. 
It would be rather tiresome for me to read the 
whole of these papers. They are all very instruct- 
ive, and creditable, I think, to the Secretary- 1 
have read enough to show the design of theSecre- 
1 tary to reduce expenditures. . 

Here is another letter, dated April 30, 18M, in 
I relation to the commutation of rations, which evi- 
j dences very clearly that the Secretary's vigilance 
1 was wide awake. He says: 

GENERAL ORDERS— No. 05. 
War Department, Adjutant General's Office, | 
Washington, .?pni JO, lt<.>l. > 
The attention of all officers is called to tlie provisions of 
para^ ap I 1103, Subsistence Regulations. The conjmuta- 
[•.on for'rations'at seventy-five cents per "fy 'herein allowed 
to soldiers detached on command, &c.,i= Mt to be yven 
except where they are ten^cKany deuuhedfrmu 1k^^ 



except wnere uiey aii; iriiipi<.."..j 

nrooer stations, under such circumstances as render t not 
merlh^nc M venient but impracticable to carry provisions 
wHh the n. In other cases, when it may be inconvenient 
M car V the rations in kind, the soldier m^J' •"^"ive Ins 
opt\on"the cost price instead. The commutation will not 
be CO itinued during the time the soldier "jay ^««" =1"^ 
other military post where he can draw rations in l^ind, ""t 
o V wh le he is actually traveling. Orderlies are not to 
receive the commutation of seventy-five cents, when at 

their stations. 

Bv order of the Secretary of War: . ,„ , 

S. THOMAS, JissUtant Adjutant GcneraU 

Then, there are the regulations of July 26, 1851, 



24 



■which give in detail the instructions in regard to 
the dismissal of the civilians, clerks, mechanics, 
laborers, and guards, who had been employed in 
the military service, which the Secretary presents, 
as far as he can, for the future: 

GENERAL OllDEKS— No. 43. 
Headquarteks of the Army, 
Adjutant Ge.neral's Office, 

Washington, JuZi/ 25, !85]. , 

The following order, received iVom tlie War Deparnneiit, 
is published lor the iiiloiiiiation iiml tiuidance of the Army: 
War Department, July 2:2, 1851. 

The attention of the Department has recently been called 
to the (act, that, at many of tlie frontier stations, civilians 
are employed in various capacities, such as clerks, mechan- 
ics, laborers, and even as guards. 

The employment of some of these persons is unauthor- 
ized by any law or regulation, and in most instances the 
duties perlormert by them might and ought to be performed 
by tlie otlicers or soldiers. The Department is persuaded 
that those who have so ])romptly encountered the dangers 
of the field, will cheerfully perlorni any duties that may 
devolve on them while in garrison. Hereafter, tlierefore, 
the employment of civilians in any branch of the service, 
and for any purpose for which soldiers could be detailed 
without nlanife^t injury to tlie service, is strictly prohib- 
ited. 

If a necesfeity exists for the ejiiplovment of hired labor, 
the authority of the commanding oHk-er shall be reijuisite 
therefor, and he shall cause the proper stall" officers to 
report to him the circumstances which render the same 
necessary, and shall transmit this report, with his remarks 
to the Department, and a copy thereof to the C(mimanding 
general of the division. 

C. M. CONRAD, Secretary of War. 

By command of Major General Scott : 

R. JONES, Adjutant General. 

But, sir, the Senator from Virginia seemed to 
think that something might have been done, and 
ought to h ive been done, or recommended, by th^- 
Secretary in the way of military colonization, and 
he talks about the military employment of the 
Pueblo Indians. Well, sir, he has been anticipated 
in this also, for in December, 1850, when the Sec- 
retary of War sent in his first annual report to j 
Congress, he had suggested this very idea of em- 
ploying the Pueblo Indians. Here is what he 
says: 

" It has been suggested hy persons well acquainted with 
the country, that the inhabitants (including the Pueblo In- 
dians) might, if properly armed and organized into a kind 
of militia, under (lie direction of oihcers of the Army, render 
essential aid in protecting it against the sudden inroads of 
more savage tribes. The experiment is well worth making ; 
and ifautliority were vested in the Department to distribute 
arms and ammunition among them, it might he so exercised 
that no ill consequence could at all events result from it." 

JVlr. HUNTER. I was not aware of that rec- 
ommendation of the Secretary of War, but the 
Senator will allow me to say, that 1 did not cluu-ge 
it with any failure of the Secretary that this had 
not been done. It was merely a suggestion of 
my own which I threw out. 

Mr. PEARCE. So 1 understand. I did not 
suppo.se that the Senator was aware of the fact 
that this idea had been entertained by the Secre- 
tary of War, long before the Senator ever men- 
tioned it. I suppose, the Senator was not aware 
of the degree of credit, if any credit was to be 
attached to a, which was due to the Secretary of' 
War for making the suggestion. The Senator 
himself made the suggestion in hi.s speech, and if 
I had not shown that the Secretary of War had 
previously suggested the same thing in his annual , 
report, [lersons might well have wondered tiiai a | 
Senator, belonging to the Committee (m Finance, 
should lluiik of a matter of reform in the mililary 
oervice which never occurred to the Secretary of , 



War. I answer him by showing that the Secre- 
tary of War did think of it more than a year ago. 
But that is not all; the Secretary, in his report of 
this year, again recommends the organization of a 
local militia, further carrying out the idea. It does 
not belong to the committee over which the Sen- 
ator from Virginia presides so ably, to take that 
subject into consideration. It belongs to the Com- 
mittee on Military Adiiirs, of which my friend 
from Illinois [Mr Shields] is chairman. I believe 
he has had some correspondence or conversation 
with the Secretary of War in regard to some of 
these reforms. 

The Senator from Virginia has suggested the 
idea of a military colonization. He admits that it 
is mere speculation. He speaks of the Roman 
colonies and of the Austrian military frontiers. 
He might have added, if he had thought of it, that 
we had made the attempt in 1838 to establish a 
military colony in Florida — an attempt which, I 
think, turned out to be an abortion. I never heard 
of any good result from it. I never heard that the 
Indians were kept in awe by the military colony 
which we attempted to establish during Mr. Van 
Buren's administration, or that any appreciable 
effect was produced. 1 believe some settlement 
was made under it, but no good resulted. So that 
our experience is against it. I myself doubt that 
any military colonization, such as prevailed in the 
days of ancient and imperial Rome, would suit 
modern and republican America. I am very well 
persuaded that the mililary cohinization which 
exists on the Turkish frontier of Austria would 
not suit our people. It is inconsistent with our 
social condition — with all the feelings and habits 
of our people. 

I had occasion a few weeks since, while I was 
confined by indisi)osition, to read Paget 's work 
on Hungary and Transylv.uiia. I learned from 
this work that the state of things prevailing on the 
Austrian frontier is widely different from the con- 
dition of our remote possessions. The extent of 
that military border is no more to be compared 
with that of our frontiers, which we have to defend 
from hostile Indians, than the " patch" called 
" Austria" is to be compared to our two millions 
of square miles of territory. The condition of the 
countries, too, is entirely different. That isaset- 
tled country. It is a populous, fertile, and a pro- 
ductive country. The people lieyond its borders 
are the lazy and quiet Turks, whose warlike fero- 
city has long since been tamed. The mililary 
colonists on those frontiers are more employed to 
keep down somelhing within Austria than to pre- 
vent the Turk or the jilague from coming in. In 
fact, they are more used at present in preventing 
smuggling than for any other purpose. Their 
organization is totally unlike anything which 
would suit us. 

Their allotments of land are in little parcels of 
froin thirty-six to fifty acres, which are held as 
mililary fiefs, not by a single individual, but by a 
military family, in which are several adults, all 
bound to military service, every one of whom is 
required in turn to perform a weekly tour of duty 
at the military stations, and all of whom are liable 
to be called into the regular army if war should 
ensue. Pagel states that if any sudden emer- 
gency should arise, by a system of alarm l)ell3 
and siu'nai-iin'S, in four hours there could l)e under 
arms two hundred thousand men. Though the 



25 



men ordinarily employed at the stations as guards i 
on the frontiers, and ni the preventive service, do 
not amount to quite five thousand men, yet the j 
numljer is very largely increased if any danger is 
apprehended. This military family holds all its 
land, farming stock, and protiuce in community. 
No member of the family can have private property 
in these things. There is a variety ot regulations, 
judicial and political, for their government, all of 
which show that it IS a peculiar system, adapted 
to a peculiar people, under a peculiar slate of cir- 
cumstances, and altogether unfit for such a coun- 
try as that in which it is suggested that we might 

establish it. , ■,• r 

Now, I think that so far as the military reforms 
in re'-ard to posts, the dismissal of civil employees, 
a reduction of the cost of forage, &c., are con- 
cerned, the Secretary of War has taken all the 
steps that could have been expected of him, and 
is eminently entitled to credit. But that is no 
nil Gentlemen have made some charges against 
the Administration of extravagance, which they 
think might and ought to have been prevented 
They are founded upon information furnished 
from the Department, which the Secretary of 
War obtained by his own vigilance. We liave, 
for example, the report of Major Swords. _ How 
did it come to us? Why, the Secretary ot War 
desiring to ferret out these abuses which he told 
us he feared existed, sent Major Swords as an 
a^ent to New Mexico. His object was to hunt 
out those abuses which had existed previous to 
his time, and which in his time he was determined 
to stop if he could. It is from that report of 
Major Swords that much of the information of the 
Senator from Virginia has been obtained. Ihe 
Secretary of War could not personally make these 
inquiries. The only way he could arrive at these 
facts was by sending a qualified and reliable 
agent; and that he did in sending Colonel Swords; 
and upon this information he founds his plans of 
reform, as gentlemen do their charges ot extrava- 
gance. , . . 

I suppose there has been some abuse in the ex- 
penditures of the auartermaster's Departrnent by 
distant agents whose operations were withdrawn 
from active superintendenceof their superiors here. 
The expenditures for forage and gram for the use 
of the troops, mules, horses, and cattle, have been 
very large; but it must be remembered, also, that 
there are ten thousand animals in the service of ; 
theauartermaster's Department employed in trans- , 
portation, and the expenses are necessarily very 
c^reat By no economy can you restrict them to 
lums which will not appear very ffreat iintil you 
realize the service performed. I will mention, also, 
that, in the estimate of what is necessary for tor- 
a<^efor army service, the Department does not ask 
for full forage, though the amount of it is always 
calculated. 1 have a letter from the auartermaster 
General, who says, that if he had estimated lor 
full forao-e for all the posts, and all the troops, and 
all the animals now employed in the service of 
the United Slates, the amount would have been 
42 OUO 000; but he had reduced it to about one 
half of that sum— the reduction being made be- 
cause it was supposed that half the subsistence of 
the animals would be supplied by grazing. As to 
forage at Monterey, to which the Senator from 
Vir-inia referred, and which he seemed to suppose 
was an abuse, I am informed, that althouga the 



Department estimates the cost of full forage at 
Monterey at the rate of #20 per month, the fact is, 
that not a dollar is expended for forage at that 
place. Lieutenant Sully has at that place six 
horses and eight mules, and he supports them on 
grass all the year round, as he ought to do, in ac- 
cordance with his report of 1849. 

Mr. HUNTER. Will the Senator be good 
enougb to inform me on what the estimate is made, 
for I have it in my possession ? 

Mr PEARCE. I will give the Senator the 
information which I have. 1 will read to him a 
statement, which I have received from the Depart- 
ment, on the subject: 

- " The esliiiiate of tlie cost of full forage for all theannnals 
to be foraged by the Uuarlermaster's Dcpartuient, lor the 
fiscal year commencing July 1st, 1851, and endnig June 
3l)ih, 1852, (including llie two regiments ot dragoons, the 
mounted riflemen and infantry, light arlillery,and auarter- 
master's Department,) based upon prices paivl in l»ol), 
amounted to §5,021,157 12. 

"But, as to mkny of the animals full forage was not issued, 
the estin.ate for money to be appropriated, was reduced by 
the auartermaster General to ($l,0oO,iiU0. 

" Of this amount Congress appropriated $52.^,0UU. 
'< Agreeably to Lieutenant A. Sully's quarterly return foi 
thftfoSrth quarter of 1851, he had on hand sw Iwrses and 
eMU muZes'-total fourteen animals No lorage was esti 
mated lor in the e>iin.ate for the fiscal year endnig June 30, 
185-2, for animals at Monterey, Cahlornia. 



Mr. HUNTER. According to that statement, 
no forage was used for this year. 

Mr. PEARCE. This is for the year ending 
June 30 1852. This is the information which 1 
have, at all events. But, be that as it may, one 
thing is very certain, that there can be no very 
u-reat abuse at Monterey, where there are but six 
horses and eight mules. We can very well un- 
derstand how a small force like that may be sub- 
sisted by grazing, even during the whole year, un- 
less some extraordinary emergency should arise; 
while at the same time, at another post, where 
there were two thousand or three t.housand ani- 
mals, it would be utterly impossible to subsist 
them on grazing. At a post, where there were 
1 two thousand or three thousand horses and mules, 
' if they were turned out into the plains to graze, 
either there would not be grass enough for them, 
or it would require large bodies of men to protect 
them from capture by the Indians. 
. If the quartermaster reports the truth, as 1 
have no doubt he does, the Senate must perceive 
that animals employed in thelraiisportation ot the 
army are not ^upplied with full forage, but only 

with half forage. ^. . ■ , <• „..^>,t 

The Senator from Virginia spoke of g eat 
abuses in the auartermaster's Dei)artment m New 
Mexico. He was asked by somebody who was 
the quartermaster there, and he said that he be- 
lieved the quartermaster was Captain Reynolds. 
In that he was right. 

Mr HUNTER. In relation to the matters to 

which the Senator referred a moment a"0, as it is 

a question of fact, I wish to say a word I have 

I a statement which is called an estimate of the cost 

of forage for the first and second regiments of 

dragoons, during the second half of the fiscal year 

endmg June 3ot 1852, and in the list is the post 

of Mmiterey, at which, it is said, there are six 

horses, nine mules, and no oxen Jj'e cost of 

fora-e per month is set down at $20 2d. Now, is 

i it no abuse to send such an estimate as this to us 

I for a post where nothing is expended ? How can 

we act intelligently under such circumstances? 



26 



Here is an estimate for such an amount of forage 
at a post where, according^ to the Senator from 
Marshland, riothing is expended. 

M.'. PEARCE. I would ask iheSenator whether 
that is a mere statement of what forage would cost 
there, or is it a paper in which the Q.uartermaster 
General's Bureau asks for a specific allowance of 
any given sum based upon that? 

Mr. H ULSTER. It is an estimate. This is the 
heading of the paper: "An estimate of the cost 
'of foraje for the first and second regiments of 
' dragoons during the second half of the fiscal year 
' ending June the .SOih, 1652." It was furnished 
by the Q-uartermasier General to Mr. Dunham, 
a member of the Committee on Ways and Means ■ 
of the House of Representatives, who gave it to 
me. 

Mr. PEARCE. I suppose they estimate the 
cost of full f irage there, whether it is used or not, 
but I do not see that any specific sum is demanded 
for that purpose at that place. It would seem , 
there, as if the Quartermaster General was statinjr 
what the cost would be if full foreige were used, 
rather than mentioning that a particular sum would 
be necessary for forage at that post. If he did 
mention any particular S'lm as being necessary, 
then I should say there was an inconsistency; but 
be that matter as it may, my object is to show, 
from the statement of the Q,uartermaster General, 
which is given to me, that full forage is not used 
at Monterey; that there may be an error in sending 
the estimate to a member of the House, but no 
such abuse as the Senator from Virginia seems to 
suppose, or if there is, that it is one for which the 
Secretary of War cannot be held responsible. He 
is to be held responsible for his own acts, and not 
for those of the Quartermaster General. 

[Here the honorable Seiiator gave way, and the 
Senate adjourned.] 

Friday, Jpril 30, 1852. 

Mr. PEARCE. Mr. President, before I pro- 
ceed with the remarks which I am about to submit 
in reply to the Senator from Virginia, I desire to 
ask the indulgence of the Senate for a few moments, 
while I notice a charge which was made by the 
Senator from California, and which yesterday es- , 
caped my attention. It will be recollected that the 
Senator stated in connection with the abuses which j 
arose, as he said, in the case of General John j 
Wilson, while he was on his way to California, 
and after he had arrived in the Sacramento Valley, ! 
that he had '' cached" his property, that is, as I j 
understand it, not being able to carry it on with 
him, he had concealed it by burying it. The Sen- 
ator then said: 

" By an ord'jr that emanatei from the War Department, 
a detachment of the ,\riiiy was ordered out in the following 
spring, to bring in the private propi-rty bflongin? to the 
agent, transported for him at Government expense, by the 
Salt Lake, to California. I was told by the a?.<istantquar- 
leriiia.-iter, who fitted out tlie eipeditioii, the principal ob- 
j ect of which was to perform tliis service, that tlie costVan 
lutle lc^i^ than iJl(HJ,OlK),-' &o. 

If the Senator were not mistaken in this narra- 
tive of the affair, I should .say that it was a very 
gross abuse. If, in fact, the Secretary of War 
had caii.sed a military expedition, at a cost of little 
le.ss than 5j]0i),000, to be sent u» the head waters 
of the Sacramento, to recover an amount of prop- 
erty, lar»e or small, belonging to any civil officer 
of the Goveraineni, I should have thought it a 



gross abuse. But I find a different history of the 
transaction in the report of the assistant quarter- 

! master, Major Allen — the same report from which 
the Senator from California and myself have read. 
I shall not detain the Senate any longer than simply 
to read his narrative of this transaction. After 
stating that Captain Warner had been sent out on 
an exploring expedition to the passes of the Sierra 
I??evada, and had been treacherously ajssailed and 
routed by the Indians — having, indeed, lost his 
life in the fray — Major Allen proceeds: 

'•A second expedition, destined to punUh the ho.=tile In- 
dians in the vicinity of Clear Lake, was fitted out at this 
Department in the month of May, IS-M). This command 
haling successfully accomplished its first object, was or- 
dered to proceed on to Pitt river, to chastise, if possible, the 

' Indians who had attacked and routed the party of the late 

I Captain Warner. 

' " Breret Captain Lyon, the commander of the expedition, 
was met on his ri-turn march at Las.sen's Ranch by an order 
directinehim to 20 in quest of the basrgage of John Wilson, 
Esq., wliich baggage had been " cac/icd" on the emigrant 
route beyond the Feather River Alountains.'^ 

The Senate will perceive that the Senator from 
California fell into a mistake; and that, so far from 
a military expedition being sent out for the only 
puq^ose, or for the principal purpose of recovering 
the private property of the agent, which he had 
" cached" on his outward route, it was sent out 
for two distinct military purposes; v.-hich purposes 
led them, I pre.«ume, into the neighborhood of the 
region where this property had been ^^ cached;" 
and that, in fact, the order to get his property was 
not known at the time the expedition was sent out. 
It is thus shown that this expedition had gone for 
two military purposes, which it had accomplished 
when the order to seek for this property was re- 
ceived. It is very manifest, therefore, that, if the 
-expedition had cost the large sum of money which 
it is said to have cost, it is chargeable to the proper 
military purposes of the coutury, and not to the 
private purposes of this civil employee. So far as 
tlie Government may haje been put to any ex- 
pen.?e by the expedition turning back on the route 
to sret that property, that is a charge against it; 
but the statement which I have read, exhibits a 
very different state of the case from that which the 
honorable Senator has supposed to exist. 

Mr. GWIN. I stated ihal Major Allen told 
me that the cost of the expedition was §100,000. 
I gave mv authority. 

'Mr. PEARCE. But the Senator stated, also, 
that the principal object of the expedition was to 
get at this property. He, no doubt, thought so, 
but he was in error; and, when I had the means 
of showing him to be in error, I felt bound to do 
so. 

I think I was stating yesterday, when I discon- 
tinued my remarks in reply to the Senator from 
Virginia, that the Secretary of War had attempted 
various reforms in the Department which is under 
his control. I mentioned some of them. I shall 
now proceed to mention others, some of which the 
Senator may recollect; but of others, perhaps, he 
is uninformed. 

It will be recollected that both General Taylor 
and the present Secretary of War recommended a 
retired list for the Army — a project which, it is 
supi)osed, will increaj?e the efficiency of the Army, 
wiih'iui at all enlarging the exjiense. I iinder- 
sland thai, at the request of the chairman of the 
Committee on Military Affairs in the House of 
Representatives, a project for this purpose was 



27 



prepared by the Secretary, and sent to the com- 
mittee, accompanied by a draft of a bill. That is ' 
one reform which he has attempted. .j 

Then I would call the attention of the Senate to : 
a fact which, I believe, was alluded to by the Sen- 
ator from Virginia in his speech. The Secreuiry 
of War has very recently discovered that some of- 
ficers of the Army have purchased various articles 
and sold them toiheGluartermaster's Department. 
The officers attached to the Army at particular 
depots, availing themselves of their positions, have 
speculated in those articles with which it was the 
duty of the (Quartermaster's Department to sup- 
ply the Army. This the Secretary of War very 
properly considered an abuse. The law did not 
allow him to punish it as he thought it deserved to 
be punished; and, in the spirit of true reform, he 
took the only step in his power — he communicated 
the fact to Congress, with the earnest expression 
of his wish that Congress would legislate so as to 
, furnish him with ample authority hereafter. It is 
I true, that the President of the United States, in the 
) exercise of the very large discretion which the 
Constitution and laws have given to him, might 
strike such an officer from the list. But that is a 
thing which is unusual, and almost unheard-of in 
the Army and Navy establishments. The Senator, 
I believe, mentioned this; at all events, he admitted 
the statement which I have made, and that sug- 
gested by the Senator from Georgia, [Mr. Daw- 
so\-,] who has told me that a court-martial was 
held in regard to the conduct of someof these offi- 
cers, and that they were acquitted. After th:it, it 
would have been the height of cruelty and injus- 
tice for the President to dismiss them. 

Mr. HUNTER. It was useless for me to sug- 
gest more than I did. I sought to have the facts 
drawn out. The Secretary, in answer to that call, 
stated the facts; and I did' not know, at the time I 
introduced the resolution calling for information, 
that he had made any suggestions to the Military 
Committee. After the resolution was offered, and 
an answer came, I was informed that he had made 
suggestions to the Military Committee. 

Mr. PEARCE. The only difference between 
the Senator and myself in regard to that is, that 
I supposed he was mistaken in thinking that the 
action of the Secretary was induced by his call. 

Mr. HUNTER. I did not say that it was. I 
was not aware, at the time I made the call, that 
the Secretary had made any communication to 
the Military Committee in relation to that matter. 
Mr. PEARCE. At all events, the Secretary 
deserves credit for having brought the matter to 
the attention of the proper organs of the Senate 
and the House of Representatives, before it caught 
the attention of the Senator from Virginia. I do 
not suppose that the Senator from Virginia in- 
tended any injustice to the Secretary. I did not 
so understand him; but I want to show that the 
Secretary was quite as vigilant as anybody else. 
I think he is entitled to that much credit. The 
Secretary has been aware, and has suggested in 
both of his reports to Congress, that abuses prob- 
ably existed in the administration of the Army. 
He was endeavoring to find them out, and he sug- 
ge.sted the means of preventing such of these 
abuses as he had clearly ascertained to exist. 

Another suggestion of his was, thn.t there should 
be a complete reorganization of the Quartermas- 
ter's Department. I understand that communica- 



tions upon that subject have been submitted by 
the Secretary of War to the Committees on Mili- 
tary Afl[liirs", both of the Senate and the House of 
Representatives; and I believe that to one, if not 
to both of these committees, he has submitted the 
draft of a bill intended to carry out his suggestions. 
I do not mean to discuss the projiriety of these 
suggestions; they may or rr.ay not be sufficient 
for the purposes intended: but that the Secretary 
has taken this step is sufficient to indicate that hs 
is quite sensible of the importance, and by no 
means indifferent to the necessity, of removing 
these abuses. 

I may mention another fact, that I am very sure 
is not within the knowledge of the gentleman from 
Virginia, because it was communicated to me but 
very recently. The gentleman from Virginia has 
spoken frequently of the delays in the return of 
the accounts of the different quartermasters; in 
regard to which, without any doubt, there has 
been in times past a great deal of abuse, mucli 
more, I believe, than is the case just now. With 
regard to that, I have to say, that the Secretary of 
War has, within the last year, issued mure than 
one hundred and forty circulars, addressed to the 
disbursing officers of the Army, cailingupon them 
to render their accounts according to law, tlireat- 
ening them if they did not do so, with being re- 
ported to the President for dismissal; and I am 
happy to say that this course has had a very good 
effect. Since those orders have been issued, the 
accounts of the (Quartermaster's Department have 
come in with unprecedented promptness. 

There is another reform which the Secretary of 
War has undertaken to Ciirry out, and which may, 
in part, accomplish the very desirable object that 
' was sus£:ested by the Senator trom Virginia; but 
which, Tfear, is liot altogether practicable. I allude 
to a system of rests andbalances, by which we can 
ascertain precisely how we stand at any given time. 
The Secretary, about a year ago, directed that in 
recording the vouchers of accounts of expendi- 
tures in Uie Department, there shall be such a dis- 
crimination as shall indicate :it once which of those 
accounts is chargeable to the service of the current 
year, and which is chargeable to the preceding year. 
I think that is a very good reform in our system 
, of keeoing Army accounts. Other reforms will be 
necessary, doubtless, at lea.st they will be advis- 
able; for I entirely agree with the Senator from 
Virginia in the propriety of our endeavoring to 
seciTre a stricter accountability, and more prompt 
returns from the officers. But to accomplish that 
object, the assistance of legislation will be required; 
indeed, you will have to remodel your whole sys- 
tem . 

I What is the cause of the impossibility of ascer- 
taining, during any one year, the expenditure 
proper for that year .' It is not merely a disregard 
of duty by these quartermasters. It is not their 
nesjiect of the law which imposes upon them the 
diuy of reporting at particular times, but it is the 
character "of the law itself. Now, what is it.' 
The quartermaster's accounts are returned quar- 
terly; but then each quartermaster has a certain 
•, period of grace allowed him, and that period of 
grace is another entire quarter. Now, suppose 
That a quartermaster expends money in the month 
of January in a given year, which is at the begin- 
I ning of a' quarter. The accounts of that quarter 
1 ougiit to be made up at the end of the quarter of 



28 



course; but then he has three months more allowed 
hinri by law, that is to say, the accounts ought 
to be made up to the last of April of any given 
year, and after the close of June in the same year, 
he ought to dispatch his accounts to the (Quarter- 
master's Department. Well, if he is at a distant 
post, it may take six weeks before the accounts can 
reach tiie Depariment. Thus, it might be seven 
months before tiie vouchers for an expenditure 
made in January would reach the Dejiartment, if 
the officer complied strictly with the requirements 
of the law. I say, then, that it is impossible, 
while that remains the coiulition of the law, that 
you should be able to estaijlish a system of rests 
and balances such as the Senator from Virs^inia 
desires, and such as I admit to be desirable, if 
practicable. ! 

But, then, if you amend the law, I do not know '. 
how you would be able, at any given period of the i 
year, to ascei-tain the exact amount of your liabil- 
ities and of your expenditures. Thi-s is a great 
country, sir! It is not a little Republic of San ; 
Marino, over which a man can walk in the course 
of a day. It is a country of more than two mil- 
lions of square miles, with thousands of disbursing i 
officers scattered all over it, with expenditures ] 
amounting to many millions a year; with opera- I 
tioiis of great extent and importance constantly 
going on ! How is it possiide that, at any given 
time, a Government, in a country such as this, can ' 
ascertain precisely what its fiscal condition is?' 
Why, no man, of varied and extensive business, 
can accomplish it. No lawyer, who has trusts i 
unsettled and in progress; no merchant, who has ; 
argosies on every sea; nobody, engaged in business j 
of any description which is very extensive, and 
carried on at remote points, can, at any one time, i 
say what his exact condition is. Some ap]iroxi- 1 
mation to it may be effected, to be sure. I think, 1 
therefore, however desiralile it may be to come as , 
near as possible to the accomplishment of the pur- ! 
pose which the Senator from Virginia cherishes, i 
It is not possible to arrive at it, or even to approxi- . 
mate very near to it. In truth, it very often hap- 
pens that the expenditures of a year prior to the 
current year, come in during the current year, and 
are paid out of the appropriations for that year, if 
the approi)riations of the former year be deficient. 
Gentlemen may think this is an enormity, and that ! 
it is altogether wrong that services should l)e paid 
out of a fluid not specially approjiriated for them; 
but a little observation into the practice atiii work- 
ings of this Government will show that this is a 
thing that is unavoidable, and absolutely neces- ! 
sarv. >, 

Why, if Congress were to refuse to make ap- 
propriations for any one branch of the Army sup- {' 
plies, I take it that the military service is not to ' 
stop. Suppose Congress should think proper not '{ 
to apjiropriaie a dollar for tlie subsistence of the i 
Army, would it not be the duty of the military j 
authorities to subsist the Army, notwithstanding? 
Should the Army bedisbanded or starved ? Should 
the country lie left defenseless? Should the fron- i 
tier be desolated l»y predatory Indians, because 
Congress iiad omitted to provide for the subsist- [ 
ence of the Army? The soldiers must be fed, or 
they must be ilischap.^ed. What authority would 
the President of tiie United States have' to dis- 
charge ilie .Army uiulersuch (•irnunstance.s ? [low 
would lie fulfill tiie duty which, as Commander-in- 



Chief of the Army and Navy, he owes to defend 

the country everywhere, with all the means in his 

power, if he failed to supply the army with that 

subsistence which Congress had, either intention- 

I ally or unintentionally, withheld ? Sir, under the 

i general authority given by acts of Congress, about 

! the construction of which the Senator and mvself 

j differ, the President and the Secretary of War 

I would have the power, if there were sufficient ap- 

I propriations for other branches of the service, to 

j provide for the subsistence of the army; and it 

j would be their duty to do it. 

Mr. HUNTER.' 1 never disputed the right of 

I the Secretary of War to provide for subsistence 

and transportation. I stated expressly that there 

j was a special act passed in 1820, which allowed 

j such contracts to be made. 

Mr. PEARCE. I am aware of that. But a great 
deal has been said about transfers, and the propri- 
ety of transfers of appropriations. My remarks 
now are intended to sliow the necessity of trans- 
fers. Cases may arise in which the Government 
would desert its positive duty, if it did not make 
these transfers. Before, however, I go into the 
subject of transfers, there are a few other topics — 
rather odds and ends, than things of very large con- 
sequence — which perhaps I had better gather up as 
I go alono". 

The expenditures of the (Quartermaster's De- 
partment in New Mexico, were spoken of, both 
by the Senator from California and the Senator 
from Virginia, as being very large. Undoubtedly, 
they were so. Besides being very large, there 
were circumstances which might perhaps justify 
some suspicion as to their propriety. I speak 
guardedly upon this subject, Ijecause the quarter- 
master, under whose authority these large expend- 
itures were made, is now in this city; his accounts 
are undergoing an investigation; and I do not 
wish to say anything which may look like pre- 
judging or prejudicing his case. The Senator 
mentioned several small abuses, accidental and 
perhaps isolated instances of abuses, which he 
discovered as occurring in that branch of the 
service. For example, the Senator from Virginia 
recited the case of a receipt given by a clerk, which 
was not signed by him, in his own j^riiper hand- 
writing, but with his cross-mark. That was a 
gross abuse. But it was a single instance. In re- 
gard to that, I may be allowed to say that the 
voucher for that account is now suspended. I am 
informed that it has not been admitted as a proper 
voucher. Then thei'e was anotherreceipt signed by 
a teamster, in the same way. And the Senator 
from Virginia says there was also an error of 
!|!|i25,000 in addition. Well, mistakes, in addition, 
occur everywhere. It is not fair to infer the exist- 
ence of a systematic abuse, l)ccause tiiere was a 
single instimce of mistake in addition. I under- 
stand, in fact, however, that that is ratlier a dif- 
ferent transaction from what the Senator supposed. 
It is the case of a disputed credit, or debt, between 
two quartermasters. 

Now, ill relation to the receipts signed by a 
cross-mark, instead of the proper handwriting of 
the iiarties. Where did those vou(;hers go? To 
the Quartermaster General's Bureau. There they 
undergo ilie first examination. Then they are 
sent to the Thiril Auditor's office, where they un- 
deriTii a finnl examination. The Secretary of War 
has nothing at all to do with a matter of that sort, 



29 



unless his attention is specially called to such a 
case of abuse, by those in whose bureaus it is ex- 
amined, and where it is the duty of the persons 
employed to examineand detect all such [.ractices._ 
Tlie Secretary cannot be held responsible, even it 
a svsiemof abuse of that sort should be discovered 
to prevail, because it mi-ht prevail without his 
knowled-e. It is not the business of the .Secretary 
to investigate accounts. It would be utterly im- 
possible for him to do so. Do gentlemen know 
That a single quartermaster's account soinetimes 
comes in, accompanied by five or six bushels ot 
vouchers? No Secretary of War, even supposing: 
he had nothiu<^ else to do, could accomplish the 
business of looking over the accounts in the most 
cursory manner. No, sir; not even it he had the 
eves of Areus, and the hands of Briareus. It is, 
however, no part of his duty. 1 do not suppose 
that the Senator from Virginia meant to charge 
this as a dereliction of duty on the part of the Sec- 
retary. I am very far from thinking so. but 1 
am making this reply, not merely for tlie benefit ot 
the Senate, I confess, but because, as 1 said yes- 
terday, I know how the slightest fact mentioned in 
a speech of this sort, coming from a gentleman of 
the character of the Senator from Virginia, would 
be seized upon by those partisans who pervert 
even the truth, when there is no opportunity to 
discover anything like a shadow of just suspio- ,, 

^° A few words now upon the subject of transfers, j. 
The Senator thinks that, in regard to transfers, j, 
abuses have prevailed; and he has been candid in ij 
savin"- that he thinks part of those abuses origin- i 
ated before the period of this Administration, or :: 
that of General Taylor. He lays it at the door i 
of his own political friends. That is fair and can- i 
did But then he thinks there are other abuses 
in regard to that system, which originated with ! 
the present Administration. In that he is mis- i 
taken There are a great many acts ot Congress 
in re<rard to transfers; but there are only two to ! 
which I wish particularly to call tlie attention of ' 
the Senate. One is the act of 179j, under which, ; 
the Senator thinks that whenever a balance of an 
appropriation has remained in the Treasury for , 
more than two yeai-s, it ought at once to be car- } 
ried to the surplus fund. And he referred to an j 
opinion which was given as tar back as Ibdl, by . 
the Senator from Georgia, [Mr. Berkien,] then , 
Attornev General, and who had expressed the 
same belief. 1 presume the Senator was not aware 
at the time he made his speech, and, yideed, 1 know 
from a conversation which I had with him this 
morning on the subject, that he was not aware that 
a subsequent construction had been given to this 
act by the Attorney General. The Senator was 
aware that a different practice had prevailed in the 
Departments, and he stated very fairly that it 
be4n with some of his own political friends. 1 
beheve he dated it back about as far ago as eight 
vears. The fact is, however, that it originated 
long before eight years ago. The change of con- 
struction was effected in the year 1838 or 39. l 
have on my table an opinion of Mr. Attorney 
General Grundy, an opinion which duTers Mo 
calo from that of the Senator from Georgia, when 
he was Attorney General. It is not my purpose 
to contrast these two opinions, to determine which 
is the sounder construction. It is enough for my 
purpose to show that, during the admuiistration 



of Mr. Van Bureii, the Attorney Generahadmitled 
a different construction of the act of 179.'>, from 
that which was recommended by the Attorney 
General of General Jackson, in 1831; and that the 
administration of Mr. Van Buren, and all suc- 
ceeding Admiiiistraiions, have acted upon that con- 
struction from that time down to the present day. 
In this connection the Senator from Virginia 
referred to a transaction in 1850 which he supposed 
to be wrong, though I presume he did not mean 
to censure u, inasmuch as the practice had been 
pursued by the predecessors of this Admimstra- 
tion. He introduced the case of the steamer 
Watchman. I will not believe that the Senator 
intended to throw any slur on the Administration 
by the statement which he gave of that case. And 
yet I think it is necessary for me to explain it 
: somewhat carefully, to prevent an erroneous con- 
'■ struction abroad being put upon it. , , . 

; The steamer Watchman was employed during 

the Florida war, under the administration of 
i Mr Van Buren, in the transportation, 1 believe, of 
: troops and supplies in Florida. The account for 
i the transportation was considered finally settled 
! by the accounting officers in 1846. Upon inquiry 

I ascertained that the account had been reex- 



amined at a subsequent period upon the produc 
tion of new testimony. In ISoO the account was 
finally audited and pa.ssed by the accounting ofh- 
cers of the Treasury. They were the present 
! Auditor and the late Second Comptroller— a very 
' good ofHcer, and quite as good a Democrat. The 
\ claim was therefore concluded, so far as the obli- 
"■ation of the United States to pay it was con- 
■■ cerned. It had been adjusted by the officers whose 
■ duty it was to adjust it. The next thing to be 
done was for the Secretary of War to order its 
i payment, if a fund could be found which could 
be applied to its payment. There was no fund 
i directly applicable to this case; but the Secretary 
was informed that there was a balance remaining 
of a fund which had been appropriated for the 
1 payment of the Florida militia, which, m the ex- 
' ercise of the general powers of his Department, 
P he mi^'ht tran'sfer for this purjiose. He doubted 
'• his aulhoritv, and expressed his doubts, I believe, 
i' in writin'', and called upon the Attorney General 
\\ for his opinion. The Attorney General of the 
\\ United States, the properly constituted law officer 
'' of this Government, whose business itisto advise 
ii in cases of doubtful legal construction, advised, m 
' accordance with the practice which had prevailed 
i' from the time of Mr. Van Buren's administra- 
tion and Mr. Grundy's opinion, to this time, that 
'; that fund was properly applicable to this case. 
j: The Senator stated, also, that this account was 
'i for the sum of $24,0U0 for about fifty-five days, 
'' service of a steam-boat. It looks like a very large 
i sum, and without some explanation it might be 
'<■ tlioi)[o-ht that this amount was allowed as a quantum 
! meruit, and thatthere had been someof that favorit- 
,1 ism which is said to have prevailed at times in the 
i; Departments. The Senator intimated tliat the sum 
r allowed was altogether disproportionate to the 
: service for which it was allowed. I am happy to 
" say, that the sum allowed was upon a charter- 
party, about the terms of which I suppose there 
could be no mistake; and if there was anything 
extrava"-ant and exorbitant in the amount— it the 
service of this steamboat during the Florida war 
should not have cost so much— if that is to be 



30 



charged to any officer of the Government as a 
dereliction of duty, it must be charged to him by 
whom the contract was made, and not to this Ad- 
ministration, which ordered it to be yniid, when 
the accounting othcers had ascertained the amount 
which was due. Then it was the plain duty of 
the Secretary to order it to be paid. 

It will be observed, that the fund out of which 
this account was allowed, was one for the pay- 
ment of the Florida militia; and the Senator, I 
think,. said that it was a fund which was appro- 
priated in 1839 or in ]840. He complained that 
it had not been carried to the surplus fund prior 
to 1850. The fact that it was not so carried, is a 
practical construction of the act of 1795, equiva- 
lent to the theoretical one of Mr. Attorney Gen- 
eral Grundy in the administration of Mr. Van 
Buren. This account remained unsettled during 
nearly two years of Mr. Van Buren 's administra- 
tion, which was a purely Democratic administra- 
tion. Then it came throuo'h the administration 
of Mr. Tyler, which was, I believe, an amphibious 
one. In it were some of the " Simon Pures," I 
know; and I do not know that the administration 
was any the worse for that. On the contrary, I 
rather think it was improved by some of them. 
[Mr. jVelson was sitting by Mr. P.] The adminis- 
tration of Mr. Tyleradopted the same c<instruction, 
and Mr. Polk's administration adopted the same 
construction, or else they would not have allowed 
this fund to lie so long without being carried back 
to the Treasury. I understand that the practice 
is every year to make out a list of the unexpended 
appropriations, and then call upon the Secretaries 
of the proper Departments to know whether any 
of these unexpended appropriations will be further 
wanted for the purposes to which they were appli- 
cable. Jf they are not so wanted, the Secretaries 
say so; and then, as a matter of course, they are 
returned to tlie Treasury. If they are wanted in 
whole, or in part, the information is given, and 
action is taken accordingly. In regard to this 
identical fund, I understand that the fact is, that a 
portion of it was carried to the surplus fund only 
at the last settling day, or at the settling day suc- 
ceeding this transaction. 

Then, as to the act of 1842, allow me to say to 
the Senate, that as far back as 1809 we began with 
this subject of transfers. We passed an act on 
the subject in that year, another in 1816, anotlier 
in 1817, another in 1818, another in 1820, one in 
1830, and finally we passed another in the year 
1842. Sometimes tliese arts restrained the power, 
sometimes they confined the power to some classes 
or heads of appropriations, and sometimes to 
others. But in 1842, when we began to be more 
specific in our appropriations, and endeavored to 
tie tlie hands of tlie Executive as tightly as possi- 
ble, we found that there was some apprehension 
that we migiit go loo far in this matter. While 
these appropriations were made so strictly and 
specifically, it l)ec;\me necessary to give some little 
power to the heads of Departments lest the public 
service might suffer by the great stringency of the 
appropriations. Under these circumstances, we 
passed the act of the 2()ih of August, 1842 — the 
net which the Senator from Virginia supposes lo 
have received its present operation from the con- 
struction given to it by this Administration. I 
inr|uired into the matter, and ascertained that the 
Senator waa undei' a mistake, in supjHjsing that 



the construction of that act is due to the present 
Administration. 

Mr. HUNTER. The Senator will observe that 
I did not state it positively. I said I was so in- 
formed, and supjiosed it to be the fact. I will 
also now say a word in justice to Mr. Johnson, 
who WRS the Attorney General under General 
Taylor. 1 stated that the opinion of the Attorney 
General and the Secretary of War seemed to be 
in conflict. By the Attorney General I meant Mr. 
Crittenden, and not Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson 
had given an opinion directly opposite to that given 
by Mr. Crittenden. It was dated April 25, 1849. 

Mr. PEARCE. I am aware of that. The act 
of 1842 is entitled— 

" An act lesalizinjj and niakins appropriations for such 
necessary objects as have usually been inchided in the gen- 
eral appropriation bills without authority of law, &c., and 
for other purposes." 

That part of the law which refers to the subject 
of transfer-s is in the twenty-third section of that 
act, and is in these words: 

'^ ^nd he it further enacted, S;c., That in case the sura 
appropriated for any objtet shall be found more than suffi- 
cient to meet the expense thereby contemplated, the sur- 
plus may be applied under the direction of the liead of the 
proper Department to supply the deficiency of any otiier 
item in the same Department or office : Provided, That the 
(expenditure for newspapers and periodicals shall not exceed 
the amount specifically appropriated to that object by this 
act." 

That is the authority under which transfers are 
made by the heads of Departments. Formerly 
the President had to interfere in the matter. There 
have been two constructions given by Attorneys 
General to this act — one by Mr. Attorney Gen- 
eral Johnson, I believe adverse to the construction 
now prevailing; and one by Mr. Attorney Gen- 
eral Crittenden, in favor of it. There is, also, an 
opinion of the Comptroller, who it seems is some- 
times called upon to give legal opinions, in favor 
of the constructirm. But it has recf-ived a practi- 
cal construction in preceding Administrations. I 
was curious to inquire into some instances of that, 
and have had some little ditficulty in doing so. 
There is a book, however, called the " Register of 
Appropriation Warrants," which is amanuscript 
book, and not an indexed one; it is, therefore, 
somewhat difficult to search for a particular case. 
However, upon inquiries made by the First 
Comptroller, the results of which are stated in 
his opinion, I find that on the 25th of November, 
1844, there was transferred, upon the apiilication 
of the Secretary of War, by the Secretary of the 
Trea.sury, for contmgent expenses in the office of 
the Commissioner of Pensions, under the item for 
"extra clerk hire," the sum of $1,000 for two 
messengers in that office at $500 each. This trans- 
fer was made, of course, under the authority of 
the act of 1842, which is the last on that subject. 
If, ;is the Senator from Virginia supposes, the act 
was limited to the sums appropriated in it, there 
would be no authority at all to Mr. Secretary 
Wilkins, one of his own political friends, for 
asking for this transfer. The transfer was made 
upon that construction of the sum which I think 
riijht, while the Senator from Virginia supposes 
it to have been wrong. But that is not the only 
instance which 1 find of transfers made under 
virtue of this law. I find that under its authority 
transfers were made by Mr. Secretary Walker, on 
the 29th of July, 1845, on the 25th of September, 



31 



1847, on the 19th of February, 1848, and a^ain 
on the 29th of February, 1848. Further search, 
as the Comptroller says, would probably have 
disclosed others. 

The Senator was therefore mistaken in suppos- 
ing that the construction given to this act, and the 
practice under it, originated with this Administra- 
tion, as he evidently did suppose. It originated 
with his own political friends. I find no fault with 
them for it, because I differ from the Senator. 1 
really think that the construction which Mr. Wil- 
kins and Mr. Walker put upon it was the true 
one. We must look a little into the history of le- 
gislation perhaps, in order to have a ftiir under- 
standing of the matter. 

It was customary, in the early legislation of this 
country, as it was in England, to pass indejiendent 
substantive enactments in relation to different sub- 
jects, and not to crowd a variety of matters, not 
germain to each other, into the same bill. That 
used to be the practice, and ought to be the prac- 
tice, if it were practicable, now; in which, I know, 
the Senator will agree with me. But we know 
that, for the last fifteen years, such a thing has 
not been practicable. We know that such impedi- 
ments have been thrown in the way of the legis- 
lation of Congress — I may not say during the 
present session, by any means, but at former Con- 
gresses, particularly in the House of Represent- 
atives — that it has been almost impossible to get 
anything passed; and it has been with extreme 
difficulty that the appropriations for the current 
service of the Government could be obtained. 
Such has been the increase of the Cacoetlies In- 
quendi; such the incessant struggle of party strit'e; 
such the turmoil about matters not properly be- 
longing to the regular business of the Govern- 
ment, but connected more with party and presi- 
dential politics, that business has got to be the last 
thing which is recognized in a legislative assem- 
bly; and now, in order lo secure the passage of 
many bills of importance, we have to ingraft them 
upon appropriation bills, or go without them alto- 
gether. Some very ludicrous instances of this 
have occurred. I dare say a great many gentle- 
men will recollect that, on a navy appropriation 
bill, about the year 183:2, we ingrafted a provision 
to regulate the franking privilege. I used to hunt 
for that provision a long time, but I never could 
find it, until some old and experienced Senator told 
me that I would find it in the navy appropriation 
bill. Then we have an act limiting the compen- 
sation of certain custom-house officers; and where 
do you suppose that it is to be found ^ It is in a 
private liill for the relief of Chastelain & Ponvert. 
So, in many appropriation acts passed during ihi.s 
very session of 1842, you will find permanent 
provisions of law, which could have no force and 
meaning if they were not permanent, and which 
were intended to restrain what was then thought 
to be Executive extravagance. In this very bill 
there are some such provisions. Here is a pro- 
vision in regard to the employment of extra clerks. 
In these appropriation bills we have forbidden the 
payment of double salaries; we have forbidden 
any officer who has performed the duties of a 
higher office, receiving a higher salary, unless 
the proper- officer for whom he was substituted, 
should not receive it. We have gone a great deal 
further than that, and actually, in a naval appro- 
priation bill, have abolished flogging in the Navy, i 



and also in the commercial marine; and that upon 
a debate of an hour or an hour and a half. 

Sir, I think that when an independent substan- 
tive provision of law is found in a separate section , 
unconnected with any other; where there is noth- 
ing expressly limiting it to a particular year, nor 
anything fairly implying such a limitation; where 
it is just as properly ap[ilical)le in one year as in an- 
other; where all the interests of the public service 
would seem t() require that it should apply in fu- 
turo, as during the current year, — then, I think 
that every rule of sound construction known to 
lawyers, requires that it should be considered a 
permanent provision. I will not weary the Senate 
by multiplying examples; but I could give gen- 
tlemen fifty cases where permanent provisions 
of law, some more general than others, have been 
inserted in appropriation bills, and have univer- 
sally been understood as permanent. In this very 
act of 1842 there is this provision: 

" Provided that expenditure for newspapers and periodi- 
: cats .shall not exceed the amounts specially appropriated to 
that object in this act." 

I That provision is considered permanent, and 
has been acted upon and construed as limiting the 
, amount which the Departments should ]iay for 
newspapers and periodicals. The act limits the 
amount for one Department and its bureaus to one 
i hundred dollars. It has been construed to be so 
I limited ever since. This has got to be the com- 
mon practice of our legislation. My friend from 
North Carolina [Mr. Badger] suggests to me 
I that the salary of the Attorney General is deter- 
j mined by a proviso to one of the appropriation 
hills. So, sir, unless there be words to indicate 
j that there is to be no future application of such a 
section as I have mentioned, or if there be no 
i necessary implication, that it is not to have a fu- 
I ture application. I hold that it is practically clear, 
I that it should and ought to be considered as per- 
, manent. I do nothesitaleto say, that if we should 
I adopt such a rule of consti-uction, as the Senator 
from Virginia seems to think would be proper, we 
■ should in eflect strike out of the statute-bnok a 
great many provisions of which we should feel 
extremely sorry to be deprived, and would leave 
the public service a great deal more exposed to 
depredation than it is now. 

The Senator from Virginia mentioned, as one of 
the causes of the complication of accounts, the 
liability to abuse "a system of drafts drawn liy 
quartermasters on each other, payable anywhere. " 
I do not know whether the Senator is reported 
with exact accuracy. I can hardly understand 
how a drat't drawn by one quartermaster upon 
another, can be payable anywhere. I can under- 
stand how a draft, drawn by one quartermaster 
upon another, may be paid somewhere else than 
at the place of his residence, or by somebody else 
than himself, by an arrangement very easily ex- 
plained; but I cannot understand how a draft, 
drawn by A upon B at a given place, can he pay- 
able somewhere else. ■ 

Mr. FIUNTER. I was at the office of the 
Third Auditor this morning, and he showed me a 
list of those drafts. There are instances in which 
drafts were drawn on a particular quartermaster — 
say at New Orleans, or St. Louis — which were 
paid in Baltimore, or New York. 

Mr. PEAO.CE. I can very well understand 



82 



how that, vvouIJ be: but I cannot understand how 
such drafts can he made " payable anywhere." 

Mr. HUNTER. If cuslom iiiake.s them pay- 
able in that way, of course these di-afts will float 
about as a sort of bills of exriiange. 1 am in- 
formed of the fact, which I have stated, by the 
Third Auditor. 

Mr. PEARCE. If this is an abuse, where did 
it orisrinate? The Senator says, it orisriiiated 
during the war. I think that very probable, though 
I do not know the fact. I think it probable that 
there might be a case in which it would be very 
proper for a quartermaster to pay by draft drawn 
on another quartermaster; for example, suppose a 
quartermaster in New Mexico was called upon 
to pay money, and lie has not got the money, he 
cannot very well get it,unles.s we wagon it there, 
some seven hundred or eight hundred miles from 
Fort Leavenworth, acro.ss the Indian Territory. 
There are no custom-houses in New Mexico, and 
no revenue derived from customs there. There- 
fore, the only way to get money tliere would be 
to send a military escort with if, and that, I pre- 
sume, the Senator would not approve of, if the 
[lurpose could be accomplished otherwise. A 
draft, then, may with great propriety be drawn by 
the quartermaster in New Mexico upon a quarter- 
master somewhere else — as, for example, at St. 
Louis, and it would, ol course, be payable at St. 
Louis. Indeed, I do not see how it could other- 
wise be drawn. 

Mr. HUNTER. That is precisely what I said. 
I know that there is a necessity for drawing these 
drafts: but I say that there ought to be regulations 
to enforce the quartermasters drawing them, to 
inform the Department. The De|iMrtment ought 
to know when drafts are drawn. The drafts when 
drawn ought to be made payable at some given 
place, and not float about as bills of exchange. I 
admit that the drafts are necessary in some cases. 

Mr. PEARCE. Then we agree upon that 
point; but the Senator, perhaps, does not under- 
stand exactly the distinction I was making. I 
said that I supposed the Senator was not reported 
right, and that what he meant to say was, that a 
bill was drawn by one quartermaster upon an- 
other, and instead of being paid by him, that the 
quartermaster had given an order on some other 
quartermaster. That, I supposed, was the Sena- 
tor's meaning. 

Mr. HUNTER. I do not care so much about 
words. I spoke of di-afts lieiiig drawn on one 
quartermaster and being paid by another. I did 
infer from what the Third Auditor told me that 
these drafts were sometimes paid not by his direc- 
tion; for in.stance, there were rej)ealpd cases where 
bills had been drawn here, and j^aid in New York. 

Mr. PEARCE. Precisely: and if the Senator 
had been reported as saying that, T should have 
understot)d him, and there would have been no 
difference between us. I liiink the practice is an 
improper ore. I think it confuses the accounts 
and increases their com[)lexity. It prevents the 
accounting officers from pursuing these accounts 
as strictly and as clearly a.s otherwise they might 
do; and I am very hajipy to say that I lunierstand 
the practice will be put an end to. I have, how- 
ever, a paper from the Quartermaster's Depart- 
ment, drawn up at my request, in regard to this 
practice. The Gliuwlermaster General snys: 

"The practice oriyinatml duriii-; tlu- Mexican war. It 



was not discontinued on the tcrtnination of ttiat war, but 
Ptill continues, tlifnigli to a liniitrd extent. The officers in 
California are authorized to draw only in payments to em- 
ployees. Drafts 071 thU office are paid in this place, New 
York, Philadelphia, Boston, or Tialtiniorc,hy the disbursing 
agents of the Department, (on the request of the holders,) 
on tlie order, in each case, of the Quartermaster General. 
They are invariably presented here before the order for pay- 
ment is Riven, whicli is, in ail cases, indorsed on tlie lace 
of the draft. 

" Drafts of the officers of the Department on each other 
are paid at the stations of the officers on whom they are 
drawn. In a few instances, when the officer on whom 
tliey were drawn has died or been removed before tliey 
could be presented for payment, they have been paid here, 
or elsewhere, on the special order of the Qugrtermaster 
General, the full set of excliange in each case being pre- 
viously surrendered." 

This statement I have obtained from the Quar- 
termaster General 's office. It is possible that there 
may have been some particular case in which the 
account mentioned by the Senator was correct. 

Mr. HUNTER. I apprehend that if the Sena- 
tor will go to the Third Auditor's ofiice, he will 
find a great mnny of those cases. 

Mr. PEARCE. If there are a good many they 
ought to be looked into, and this ought to be put 
an end to. Bn.f if this is an alnise, it is an impro- 
priety which is not chargeable to tliis Administra- 
tion. I want to rescue it from an implication of 
neglecting its duty. This practice was not intro- 
duced by the present Administration. We are 
informed that it had been very much reduced by 
them, and I have the pleasure of saying that the 
Secretary of War is about to take steps to abolish 
it altogether. The Secretary of War is not to be 
held responsible for mal-practice immediately upon 
its occurrence. A very gross abuse may be per- 
petrated, and the man who is to be held responsi- 
ble for it is he who perpetrated it. The superior 
officers of the Departinents are only to be held re- 
spon.sible when, with a full knowledge of such an 
abuse, they tolerate it. What I mean to say,tlien, 
is, that I suppose this system not to have prevailed 
so far as the Senator thinks; but whether it has 
prevailed much or little, it arose during the time of 
another Administration. The origin of the prac- 
tice cannot becharged to this Administration. The 
knowledge of it cannot be brought home to the 
Secretary of War until very recently; and then fol- 
lowed the determination of the Secretary to put 
an end to it. 

Mr. HUNTER. I hope the gentleman will in- 
form me when the Secretary of War issued an 
order to n\it a sto]i to it f I was not aware of the 
fact that he had done so, and I am glad to hear it. 

Mr. PEARCE. I did not state that the Secre- 
tary of War issued any order to this effect. Thi."? 
is a matter which lias but recently been brought to 
his notice, and he lias informed me within the last 
few days that lie is determined to put a stop to it 
at iince, by a proper order. The Senate will re- 
collect that the Secretary of War (h)es not audit 
accounts. They do not coine before him in the 
ordinary discharge of liis duty. They go before 
theburcauof the QuartermastcrGeneral, and from 
him to the Third Auditor, and, as I before stated, 
they are never brought to the notice of the Secre- 
tary unless the head of a bureau thinks there is 
some special reason for bringing tliem to liis notice. 
Thus it may very well happen that mal-practice 
may exist during the administration of a most 
faithful .nnd zealous officer, and may continue 
during his administration, without his being in 



33 



any manner censurable for it. Unless you gift 
him with omniscience, he cannot know everything 
that is going on in the different bureaus of his De- 
partment. "He cannot know in relation to their 
operation more than his subordinates communi- 
cate to him; and it is their duty to inform him of 
anything that requires his attention. 

The Senator from Virginia alluded to certain 
deficiencies said lately to have come from Cali- 
fornia. I have made inquiry about the point, and 
I think the Senator is somewhat mistaken in regard 
to it. Accounts may have come in from Califor- 
nia, but I do not see how deficiencies could come 
in. The accounts, when they come in, are paid. 
It is very true, however, that accounts for pay- 
ments made applicable to the service of a prior 
year, may come in during the current year, and 
may be found to have diminished the funds in the 
hands of the disbursing officers, so as to limit the 
amount at the command of the Department, appli- 
cable to the service of the current year. That is 
very true, and I do not know that anybody here 
would be to blame for it, unless that state of things 
could be anticipated. The truth is, however, that | 
sums paid for the service of one year are always 
falling upon the appropriations for another year. 
"Under the system of accounts established by the ; 
authority of the Government, and which has pre- ' 
vailed from the very beginning, the origin of which , 
is almost lost in obscurity, it so happens, and can- i 
not but happen, that expenditures for prior years i 
are not made known to the Department until they 
become a charge upon the appropriations of the ; 
current year. ! 

If we look at the system of receipts and expend- 
itures in the Q,uartermaster General's bureau, we 
shall see how this thing works. Yet, much as , 
has been said about the enormous expenses in the ! 
Ctuartermaster's Department, the Senate will per- 
liaps be surprised to see that there has been a j 
regular diminution of these expenditures since the j 
War. I have in my hands a statement of the ex- 
penses of the Ctuartermaster's Department for the 
years endins: June 30th, 1849, June 30th, 1850, 
and June 30ih, 1851, and the estimates for 1852. 
I have also a statement of the funds which went 
into the hands of the quartermasters for disburse- j 
ment during these years. I submit the paper as j 
more satisfactory than my statement of it: 

Statement of funds vhick went into the hands of quarter- 
musters for dishursemcnt. | 
In the year emiiiig Jiuie 30, 1849 — 

balances in their hands July 1, 1848 $1,121,747 10 

From sales of property 821,.'?43 6'2 

" military contributions 62,473 38 i 

" the Treasury 4,600,502 44 

Total ,$6,606,066 56 



Reported in that year 

Since reported, as prior to Jaly 1, 1849.. 



.$5,815,926 00 
. 275,050 59 



In the vear endinz June 30, 1850 — 

Froni sales and rents $109,036 02 

" civil fund of California 808..534 76 

'« the Treasury, drafts, &e 3,823,671 83 



Total $6,090,976 59 



In the year ending; June 30, 1850 — 

Reported in that year $4,352,6.32 72 

Since reported, as prior to July 1, 1850. . . . 986,336 53 

Total $5,338,969 25 



In the year en<Jinq: June 30, 1851 — 

Reported in that year ,$4,721,080 04 

Since reported, to April 23, 1852 235,503 06 

Total $4,956,583 10 



For the year ending June 30, 1852 — 
Estiniati-d for this year, (see Estimaws, 

pp. 34-.153) $4,750,000 00 

Appropriated per act of .3d of March, 1851, 

(Laws, p. 620) 2,435,000 00 

First reduction $2,315,000 00 



Total .$4,741 ,242 61 I 



In the year ending June 30, 1851 — 

From sales and rents.... $140,515 50 

" theTreasury 5,391,376 31 

Total $.1,53!. 891 81 



Expenditures made by the Q,uartermasters. 
In the year ending June 30, 1849 — 
C 



Estimated for deficiency, January 8, 1852.. $2,066,460 00 
Reported in deficiency bill, H. R. 207 1,944,000 00 

Second Reduction $123,460 00 



Appropriated for this year, by the act of 3d 

March, 1851 $2,435,000 00 

Reported in deficiency bill 1,944,000 00 

Total, appropriated and reported $4,379,000 00 

Ditterence between the appropriations of the 
current year and the lowest esprtiditures in 
any of the preceding years, 1851-'52. $577,583 10 

N. B. The Estimates for the Qiaartermaster's 

Department tor the year . , ,$4,750,000 00 

For the year commencing July 1, 1852 4,103,180 00 

Difference $646,820 00 

—or $646,820 less than those of 18.52. 

Mr. HUNTER. How does the Senator state 
the expenditures for the years 1850 and 1851? 

Mr. PEARCE. The expenditures in theQ,uar- 
termaster's Department for the year ending the 
30th of June, 1850, amounted to $5,338,000. 

Mr. HUNTER. According to the statement 
which I have from General Jesup, the expendi- 
tures for that year, in the Quartermaster's De- 
partment were $4,950,000. What is the Senator's 
statement of the expenditures for the year ending 
June 30th, 1851? 

Mr. PEARCE. Four million nine hundred 
and fifty-six thousand dollars. 

Mr. Hunter. The statement furnished me 
puts them down at $5,286,000. It would seem, 
from this, that there had been an increase instead 
of a diminution. I can tell the Senator how he 
has fallen into his error. He has a statement of 
the expenditures as they appear on the Register's 
books. I have a statement of the whole amount 
of expenditures, whether the money came from 
the Treasury of the United States or from the 
civil fund. The money was expended, no matter 
where it came from. 

Mr. PEARCE. This statement of mine is from 
the financial clerk of the Secretary's office, and I 
find an item of $808,000 put down as being received 
from the civil fund of California for the year end- 
ing June .30th, 1850. 

Mr. HUNTER. The statement which I have 
was furnished by the duartermaster General, and 
is dated April 7th, 1852. 

Mr. PEARCE. The statement which I have, 



34 



happens to be the latest — 27th of April, 1852. I 
will not dispute with the Senator about the matter. 
It may be a blunder which is not to be charged 
to either of us. I happen, however, to have the 
latest statement, and perhaps on that account it is 
more reliable. My statement, however, is made 
up of accounts chargeable to the service of each 
proper year, separating those which belonged to 
the service of any other year. This, probably, is 
the cause of the difference. 

I propose now to stale to the Senate more in 
detail something in regard to the reduction of the 
estimates which very much vexes this question. 
I begin with the year ending June 30th, 1849. 
The estimates for this year for the peace establish- 
ment were made June 29th, 1848, and amounted 
to $4,430,000. The appropriations were made 
by the act of August 8, 1848, to the amount of 
$2,940,000— reduction $1,490,000. At the con- 
clusion of this year it was known that a consid- 
erable deficiency existed, and at the next session, 
before the exact amount was ascertained, an ap- 
propriation of $600,000 was asked to supply it in 
part, but it was not appropriated. In December, 
1850, the Secretary of War reported the actual 
deficiency to be $1,290,000. It will be found re- 
ferred to in his annual report. This amount had, 
in the mean time been borrowed from several 
sources. The civil fund of California was drawn 
upon to the amount of $751,000. Drafts were 
paid out of the dsartermaster's appropriations 
for the next year to the amount of $264,000; and 
from the Subsistence Department alone, as I 
understand, there was drawn, or transferred, 
$275,000. Thus, was made up the whole amount 
of $1,290,000. There being no immediate neces- 
sity for refunding tiie amount drawn from the 
civil fund, the last two items only were placed in 
the deficiency estimates, and they were appropri- 
ated by the deficiency bill which passed at the first 
session of the last Congress. 

The estimates for the year ending June 30, 1850, 
were sent in in Deceml^er, 1849, and amounted to 
$2,000,000. That amount was appropriated. The 
expenditures, however, were $4,542,000 — the dif- 
ference being made up by balance of old appropri- 
ations belonging to the (Quartermaster's Depart- 
ment, chiefly those left over in the war, and those 
refunded by the officers in the settlement of their 
accounts, as well as .sales of war property. The 
latter item amounted, I believe, to something like 

?i821,000. I ascertained a fact which I did not be- 
bre know: that, wtien sales of war property are 
made, the amount goes to the service of the War 
Department; whereas, I believe, by law, when 
such sales are made by the Navy Department, the 
amount must go into the Treasury. Altliough the 
deficiency of this last year ran through the year, 
and into the next year, still, it is explained by what 
I have read before, and I shall say no more about 
it. 

Then, for the year ending June 30, 1851, the 
estimates were $3,H1.'{,00I), which amount was 
appropriated by the act of September 28, 1850. 
Before that year was out, however, it was discov- 
ered that much larger exi>enditures had been made 
in California than was anticipated when the esti- 
mates were made — a great [)art of which was for 
barracks, and other buildings, undertaken to be 
built without the previous authority of the Depart- 
ment. Application was made to the Committee on 



Finance of the Senate, last year, before which the 
appropriation bill was then pending, to insert an 
additional sum of $729,172. I presume the Sena- 
tor from Virginia has a copy of that letter; I have. 
That would make the appropriations for the year 
ending June 30th, 1851, amount to $4,542,000, 
which was the amount expended for the previous 
year. This, however, was not done. In order to 
supply the deficiencies, it was found necessary to 
transfer sundry balances of old appropriations to 
the amount of $730,000, making the available 
means of the Department, $4,543,000. In justice 
to the Committee on Finance, I should state that 
they were entangled with difficulties almost im- 
possible to unravel; I believe the bill came to us 
only the day before the close of the last session. 
We found such a condition of things in the House 
of Representatives as made it extremely doubtful 
whether, if we undertook to amend the bill, at 
least in any important particular, it might not be 
defeated altogether. The honorable Senator from 
Virginia, the chairman of that committee, did feel 
it to be his duty to amend it in one particular. I 
think he had an additional appropriation made for 
the clothinu: department. Is it not so? 

Mr. HUNTER. I think so. I beheve I moved 
an amendment, which was adopted, making an 
additional appropriation for clothing. 

Mr. PEARCE. That conforms with my recol- 
lection; and I believe the Senator, under the cir- 
cumstances, would not have consented to report 
the bill as it was, if he had not known that at the 
ensuing session of Congress, the deficiency could 
have been supplied by a deficiency bill. There 
was an additional reason why this letter of the 
Secretary of War should not be acted upon by an 
appropriation being irtserted in the appropriation 
bill. 

The Senate will recollect that the bill which was 
introduced by myself in relation to the civil fund 
of California, had passed this House, and gone to 
the House of Representatives, and had the bill 
passed the House of Representatives as it did thia 
body, there would have been ample authority of 
law for bringing this money, derived from the 
civil fund of California, into settlement at the 
Treasury, which, without law, was not possi- 
ble. Such a bill has pas.'jed this body, and gone 
to the House of Representatives, where it is now 
pending. Should it not jkiss that House, how- 
ever, I hope the chairman of the Committee on 
Finance will consent, when the general army ap- 
propriation bill, or some other general appropri- 
ation bill shall be under consideration, to intro- 
duce a single clause to provide for the settlement 
of these accounts, which ought to have been set- 
tled long ago, but which cannot be settled for the 
want of legislation. 

A few words now in regard to the appropri- 
ations for the present year for this Department. 
The regular estimates for this year were $4,750,000. 
The appropriation act of March the 3d, 1851, 
luider the circumstances explained, appropriated 
$2,435,000— a reduction by Congress of $2,315,000 
from the estimates. In preparing the deficiency 
estimates which were submitted at the present 
I ses.sion of Congress, the Gtuartermaster General 
thought the expenditures for this year would not 
equal those of the jiast year, and lie reduced his 
estimate to $2,OGG,000. And there is proposed to 
I be appropriated in the deficiency bill, now under 



35 



the consideration of the Senate, the amount of 
$1,944,000, making, with the appropriation here- 
tofore allowed, something like $,371,000 less than 
the original estimates of last year. If so, that 
would bring the expenditures for the year down 
to about $4,379,000. I speak in round numbers, 
not having made the calculation minutely. But 
if I am correct in this, and there should turn out 
to be no unexpected deficiencies, the expenditures 
of this department during the current y^ar vvill be 
less than those of the year before, as, according to 
the statements which I have made to the Senate, 
was the case successively for each j'ear up to 
1849. 

The Senator spoke of the necessity of modify- 
ing the organization of the Departments in regard 
to'^the clerks. He spoke of a resolution which he 
had submitted at the last session of the Senate, 
and which he thought ought to have been answered 
before now. As to that subject, I have to say 
that various projects for organizing the clerks in 
the various Departments, classifying them prop- 
erly, providing a proper system of salaries, and, 
perhaps, for aught I know, holding out a regular 
plan of promotion, have been suggested heretofore. 
1 recollect that when the Senator from Virginia 
was a member of the other House such a project 
was attempted, and a report was called for in the 
time of Mr. Van Buren. Reports were submitted 
to Congress by the heads of Departments of that 
day. They were never acted upon. They met 
the common fate of such things. They went to 
the tomb of the Capulets, where I believe went 
the project of Mr. McKay, which originated in 
that House some years since. 

Mr. HUNTER. McKay's bill passed the 
House, but failed here. 

Mr. PEARCE. At all events it did not become 
a law. 1 agree with the Senator that there is a 
great evil — I u'ill not say in the system of appoint- 
ing clerks — but there is an evil prevalent in regard 
to clerks in the Departments. I believe it springs 
out of the doctrine which was promulgated here a 
good many years ago, that " to the victors belong 
the spoils" — a doctrine, I am sorry to say, that 
has gained considerable ground. It used to be re- 

f>udiated by my own political friends, but they 
lave not been able to withstand, entirely, the out- 
ward pressure; and although we do not practice 
proscription, as much as our opponents, we have 
indulged in it to some extent. It is a practice 
•" more honored in the breach, than in the observ- 
ance." 1 should be exceedingly happy to see a 
return to the condition of things which prevailed 
before the year 1828. I should be very glad to see 
a practice prevailing in the various Departments 
by which appointments should be made according 
to merit, and not according to political influence, 
and by which promotions should be made accord- 
ing to efficiency and fidehty. I am very glad to 
say that in some of the Departments, there is an 
approximation to such a system as that. I know 
that there are clerks of both political parties in the 
Department of War, and in the office of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury who have been there for 
nearly twenty years. They are efficient and val- 
uable men — men who are not only to be respected 
as clerks, but who have a character as gentlemen, 
as men of honor, and persons of intelligence, which 
would make it a pleasure to anybody to enjoy 
their association. I should be very reluctant at 



any time to see such a man — no nuitter what were 
his politics — removed from office because he dif- 
fered from me in opinion. I have never sought to 
remove a single individual of that character, and I 
never will. 

I know the pressure of political influence on these 
Secretaries. I know that, through political influ- 
ence, persons entirely incompetent are foisted into 
these Departments as clerks, and that the public 
service suffers in consequence of it. But whether 
any general plan submitted by the Executive to 
Congress can remedy these evils, I very much 
doubt. I doubt whether you can adopt any sys- 
tem by which you can dispense with that control 
over the clerks which the President and heads of 
Departments now exercise. It would not do to 
make them independent of tlie heads of Depart- 
ments, most undoubtedly. This is repudiated by 
almost everybody. I do not see how you could 
secure such a system of appointments as would 
answer the desired ends, unless both the great 
parties of the country, and all the parties into 
which the country may hereafter be divided, shall 
determine that they will not go down to low- 
water mark, and remove those inferior agents of 
the public service, unless they are incompetent or 
unworthy. 

I understand that most of the Secretaries have 
agreed upon a general report, and that they will 
also send in special reports in a few days, in an- 
swer to a call made by the resolution of the Sen- 
ator from Virginia, at the special session of the 
Senate last year. These reports have been de- 
layed because of the absence of one or two of the 
Secretaries; and they are now delayed, because 
one of the Secretaries has, after frequent confer- 
ence with his associates, determined not to join in 
the general report; inasmuch as they cannot riiake 
any general report which will answer the exigen- 
cies of all the different Departments. He will, 
therefore, make his special report; and 1 am told 
that these reports may be expected in a few days. 
I doubt whether any good will come of it, any 
more than from the attemjits made during Mr. 
Van Buren's administration, and from that time 
to this. 

Th«re is one more subject to which I will call 
the attention of the Senate. The Senator from 
Virginia, in his speech, made some allusions to the 
Navy Department, In one place he called the 
attention of the Senator from Illinois, chairman of 
the Committee on Military Affairs, and that of the 
Senator from California, chairman of the Commit- 
tee on Naval Affairs, to the consideration of things 
properly belonging to their committees. He called 
upon them to look into the condition of their re- 
spective Departments. In another place he spoke 
of transfers being made by "these Secretaries," 
without discriminating. Now, it so turns out that 
the Secretary of the Naw does not possess the 
same power as the other Secretaries, in regard to 
the transfers of appropriations. The act of 1842, 
to which I have referred, was passed on the 26th 
of August; five days after which a bill was passed 
for the reorganization of the Navy Department. 
The former bill was reported by the Committee on 
Ways and Means in the House, and the other by 
the Committee on Naval Affairs. The Committee 
on Naval Affairs so framed their bill as to deprive 
the Secretary of the Navy of the power which 
otherwise would have been conferred, or which 



36 



was conferred on him, by the act of the 26th of 
August, 1842. We know how that was. We 
know that very large ap]:)ropriatiniis had, for a long 
series of years, been made for tlie increase and i-e- 
pairs of the Navy. And we know that it was 
charged that great abuses had prevailed, by divert- 
ing those funds to other objects not contemplated 
by Congress. When the Naval Committee of the 
House, therefore, reported the bill for the reor- 
ganization of the Navy, the object was to put an 
end to those abuses forever, by depriving the Sec- 
retary of the Navy of the power of transfers. Jt 
was done by that act. 

I know that the Senator from Virginia did not 
intend to charge that these transfers had been made 
by the Secretary of the Navy; and still less did he !, 
intend to charge that they had been made in vio- [I 
lation of law; yet it might, perhaps, be inferred ji 
from his speech, because he did not discriminate, jj 
1 am makingnocomplaint of itatall. I am merely I 
stating the fact: because otherwise it might be in- 
ferred by those who do not understand the law, 
that the gentleman intended to charge the Secretary 
of the Navy with making illegal transfers. Neither 
the present Secretary of the Navy, nor his prede- 
cessors since 1842, have made any transfers of 
any sort, from one head or class of appropriation 
to another. He has not had the legal authority 
so to do. I do not know of any abuses in the 
Navy Department which require a strict examin- 
ation by the chairman of the Committee on Na- 
val Affairs. 1 liave not heard of one. I believe 
that there has not been a solitary contract made 
by that Department during the administration of 
the present Secretary of the Navy, or his imme- 
diate predecessor, in violation of law. I am in- 
formed that both the Secretary of the Navy and 
the Secretary of War challenge investigation in 
regard to the making of contracts. They chal- 
lenge the production of a single instance in which 
any contract has been made by them in violation 
of law. 

Something was said by one of the Senators from 
California about the act of 1820, which gives au- 
thority to the Secretary of War to make certain 
contracts without appropriations, and without spe- 
cial authority, for the Ctuartermaster's Depart- 
ment. Now, I understand that the Secretary of 
War has been so sfrupulous in the exercise of 
that power, that he has never used it when Con- 
gress was in session. The Navy Department has 
not the same authority as that of the War, and I 
say it without fear of contradiction, that not an 
instance can be given where the present Secretary, 
or his predecessor, has made contracts or expend- 
itures in advance of appropriations. 

Mr. HUNTER. 1 made no such charge against 
the Secretary of War. On the contrary, I pro- jj 
duced the law to show that he had authority to 
make these contracts. 

Mr. PEAI^CE. I am aware of that. Hut there 
was something said by the Senatoi from Califor- 
nia in regard to this. 1 recollect that there was a 
difference of opinion between the Senatur from 
Virginia and the Senator from California on that 
suliject. I believe that the Senator from Virgmia 
did rather defend the Administration from the 
charge which the Senator from Calfm-nia seemed 
disposed to make. I affirm that there inis i)een no 
violati(jn of law in the making of contracts by the 
heads of either of these Departments; ajid the Sec- 



retary of War is, at the present time, refusing to 
exercise the authority which he possesses under 
the act of 1820, because, while a deficiency bill is 
pending before Congress, he thinks that it might 
be indelicate, if not improper, in him to exercise 
that power. There are troops now in Philadel- 
phia, en route to Oregon, that want horses to carry 
them on their journey, atid the Secretary of War 
refuses to make contracts in advance of the appro- 
priations which he is now soliciting from Con- 
gress. 

I am not eager to carry the war into Africa; 
but I cannot avoid at this time mentioning the 
very last instance that \ have heard of an improper 
contract in the Navy Department, or under the 
authority of that Department. I understand that 
in the year 1848, during the presidential cam- 
paign, the Navy Department was supplied with 
a large quantity of cheese for the Navy, enough 
for the consumption of three years. Yet a gen- 
tleman well known in the political world, con- 
trived, somehow or other, to efi'ect a contract 
during the autumn of 1848 for tour years' supply 
of cheese for the Navy, at eighty thousand pounds 
per annum. The consequence was, that a great 
deal of the cheese thus accumulated in the hands 
of the Navy Department, did not e.xactly take 
wings to itself, and fly away^ but a great deal of 
it took legs to itself, and crawled away. [Laugh- 
ter.] Some of it was so much damaged, that the 
Department was obliged to sell it at a great sacri- 
fice. That is the last contract of an improper 
sort made by the Navy Department that I have 
heard of. I am bound to say, however, that I 
have no information that that contract was made- 
with the knowledge of the then Secretary of the 
Navy, Mr. J. Y. Mason. 

It seems to be thought a great evil that the ac- 
counts in the Third Auditor's office should be so- 
nwch behiitd, and so it certainly is. But let us 
see the cause of these arrears. 

In October, 1846, several months aftey the com- 
mencement of our war with Mexico, the business 
of this office had necessarily accumulated so much., 
that the then Third Auditor, Mr. Hagner, warned 
the Secretary of the Treasury of the danser of large- 
arrears of unsettled accounts. In about a year 
more (November, 1847) the accounts of disbursing 
officers had swelled from two hundred and seven- 
teen to two thousand one hundred and nine, and 
relief was again asked, but not given. Nor was 
it till .4pril, 1848, nearly tv/o years after the war^ 
that ten additional clerks were given. Afierwards 
two more clerks were allowed; but in 1849 six of 
the twelve were dropped by Congress. Experi- 
enced accountants are very necessary in this 
offii-e, but in 1845 and 1846 six of the most prac- 
ticed clerks were removed. In February, 185()> 
nine clerks were added by law. Dui then the 
mischief was done, and the arrears had become 
too formidable to be speedily reduced, iiecause of 
the immense mass of war accounts with which 
the office was incumbered. Tlie Senate will re- 
memlier that durinu; the war, we liad ten more 
regiments of rei,'ulars, and more than seventy 
thousand volunteers added to the army, and that 
the disliursements and accounts were thei-efore 
largely, and perliaps proportionately, increased. 
Besides which, the inexperience of many volun- 
teer officers, not ac-quainied previously with army 
accounts, made these accounts taore difficult of 



37 



settlement. Besides all this, a postponement of 
the settlement of the accounts of the regular dis- 
bursing officers was rendered inevitable by the 
necessity of first settling those of officers going 
out of the army. 1 believe, sir, that this experi- 
ence is similar to that which the war of 1812 
taught us; and considering all thedifficulties under 
which he has labored, I think the Third Auditor 
deserves credit for reducing the mass of accounts 
as he has done. He is, as the Senator from Vir- 
ginia said, a hard-working and industrious man, 
and I think a good officer. 

Sir, I believe that I have now pretty nearly got 
through with my budget; but there are a few words 
more that I wish to say. The Senator from Vir- 
ginia, tolerant as he was of the Administration in 
his speech, still seemed to think that there was 
much in the conduct of the members of the Ad- 
ministration that deserved animadversion; and he 
rather hinted that these abuses could not be reme- 
died by us, but must be reached by the people. 
He made an intimation that the thing which he 
has so much at heart — economy in the administra- 
tion of public affairs — could only be arrived at by 
a change of Administration. Well, really, Mr. 
President,! think, retisoning of the future from the 
past — and I do not know how else we can reason — 
It is extremely doubtful, whether, if the Senator's 
wish should be gratified, there would be any such 
reform as he fondly anticipates. 

I think I have shown the Senate that what the Sen- 
ator from Virginia has charged as abuses on the 
present Administration had their origin in times 
past; that many of them, instead of being abuses, 
had been sanctioned by the wisdom of every Ad- 
ministration that has preceded this one; that those 
things which we are now endeavoring to remedy 
had their origin under a different Administration. 
Why, who was it that posted the troops in towns 
in Texas and in New Mexico? That was not 
done by this Administration. It was done in Mr. 
Polk's time. Who was it that gave the construc- 
tion to which the Senator o jects in regard to trans- 
fers, under the act of 1795 ? Who first practically 
adopted that construction which the Senator thinks 
is so palpably a violation of law in regard to the 
act of 1842 ? Who appointed those quartermas- 
ters who have held back their accounts so long.' 
Who appointed Mr. Reynolds quartermaster in 
New Mexico? Who but Mr. Polk? Under 
whose administration was it that one of the 
quartermaster's accounts were kept back for thir- 
teen quarters, as the Senator said in his speech? 
The administration of Mr. Polk! 

I will not multiply these instances, because I do 
not wish to seem to be ill-tempered; but what I wish 
to say is this: that if these things be abuses, they 
are traceable to somebody else than to this Ad- 
ministration. I do not see any occasion for call- 
ing upon the people to correct abuses which do 
not exist. We do not call upon Hercules until 
the wagon is mired. The fact is, that if this Ad- 
ministration goes out of power, it will leave things 
in an exceedingly good condition for its success- 
ors. It will leave them in a very different condi- 
tion from that in which it found them. How was 
it when General Taylor's administration came 
into power in 1849? Who was it that struck 
down the estimates from the Q,uartermaster's De- 
partment for that year? It is very well known 
that the reduction of those estimates was required 



by the late President Polk himself— that he re- 
quired the (Quartermaster General to reduce his 
estimates; and the incoming Administration was 
left with deficient appropriations for that reason. 
Who was it that, just at the time when Mr. Polk's 
administration was expiring, and Gfneral Tay- 
lor's was coming into power, suddenly, without 
any sufficient data, without any detailed inform- 
ation, without any of the inquiries into the sub- 
ject which ought to have been demanded in such 
a case, changed entirely the system of paying the 
officers concerned in the collection of the revenue ? 
Who was it that then forbade the system which 
had existed from the foundation of the Govern- 
ment, and adopted another entirely new and un- 
tried, and brought down the scale of expenditures 
to an amount entirely niNufficient ? One million 
five hundred and sixty thousand dollars was ap- 
propriated for that purpose, and the Secretary of 
the Treasury was told that he must collect the 
revenue with that amount. What was the con- 
sequence ? He had to reduce important public 
services — to bring them down below their proper 
requirements; and Congress, at the very next ses- 
sion , had to give the Secretary some $700,000 more, 
in order to enable him to collect the revenue, and 
had to give him very large powers in regard to 
the collection of the revenue on the Pacific coast. 
How happens it that these things come out when 
we are just on the eve of a presidential election, 
or just at the moment when an Administration not 
favored by a majority in Congress is coming into 
power? Sir, I should not have mentioned these 
things, if it had not been that the Senator seemed 
to intimate that this Administration had done so 
much wrong that the people should rise in their 
majesty and turn them out of pov\-er. That is the 
English of what he said, although he said it much 
more mildly, I admit Now, I defy the Senator 
to show that there are any abuses to be charged 
to this Administration half as enormous, if there 
be any at all, as those which can be shown to 
have been perpetrated by administrations which 
preceded it. 

This Administration came into power with all 
the embarrassments which the close of the Mexican 
] war threw upon it. There was a new and untried 
state of things upon the Pacific coast. We had 
received an immense accession of territory which 
was entirely unprotected. There were new mili- 
tary and naval establishments to found, and new 
civil establishments to erect. After the lapse of 
nine months from the peace, there had been 
no government provided for New Mexico, or for 
Utah, or for California. Who provided for them ? 
Under whose auspices was the quiet of the coun- 
try established ? Under whose auspices was si- 
lenced that discord which threatened the very dis- 
ruption of the Union? It was under the auspices 
of this Administration, which the people are invi- 
ted to turn out of power. There is scarcely a 
j! branch of the public service in which this Admin- 
jl istration has not shown, as I think, signal energy. 
I Look at the Navy Department. Why, you are 
j; expending now no more money for the Navy De- 
|! partment than you were in 1843 — I mean for the 
I Navy proper; and you are keeping larger squad- 
j rons afloat now than ever before, and the com- 
N merce of the country is vastly better protected, 
!! while the steam service is largely increased. It is 
;' true, that the general expenses of the Navy De. 



38 



partment have increased; but how ? By legisla- 
tive action — by congressional contracts. You 
have made contractsfor ocean steamers, chargeable 
on the navy to nearly a million |)er annum. You 
have made contracts, or directed them to be made, 
for floating docks, costing more than a million in 
a single year. You have authorized expenditures 
to be made for the naval school at Annapolis, for 
the navy-yard at Memphis, and various perma- 
nent improvements at other yards. I have in my 
possession a table shoMfing the expenses of the 
Navy Department, for a number of years past. 
This statement contains a list of the appropria- 
tions for the Navy proper: and it is prepared from 
the annual statement of appropriations, submitted 
to Congress pursuant to the provision of the sec- 
ond section of the act of Congress passed on the 
first of May, 1820. I have statements for the 
years 1841, &c., down to 1851, inclusive. Here 
IS the table, which shows the details, and groups 
the results. The total expenditures of the Navy 
proper, and marine corps, are as follow: 

1841 i|5,665,503 

1842 7,526,224 

1843-'4, (fiscal year,) 5,917,785 

1844-'o do. 5,379,833 

1845-'6 do. 5.6,53,095 

1846-'7 do. 7,0.50,568 

]847-'8 do. 9,892,.348 

1848-:9 do. 8,201,100 

1849 9,899,348 

1850 5,644,711 

1&51 5,885,422 

Thus it will be seen that the expenses for the 
year 1850- '51 were rather less than they were as far 
back as 1843- '44. Now you have a large fleet of 
naval steamers afloat — and this accounts for the 
increase in the last fiscal year. 



Mr. HUNTER. Does this statement include 
the cost of the erection of buildings .■' 

Mr. PEARCE. It includes repairs of marine 
barracks. But for the Navy proper, I will men- 
tion the heads of expenditure: Pay, provisions, 
medicines, increaseand repairs, ordnance and ord- 
nance stores, war steamers, fuel for war steamers, 
purchase of American hemp, and contingents. 
I say, then, that the expenses of the Navy De- 
partment have not been increased, but that, with 
about an equal expenditure of money, much more 
efiicient and valuable service has been had. We 
have had larger squadrons in almost every sea. 
We have had a squadron in the Pacific since the 
period of the war, and during the times of the very 
high prices occasioned by the discovery of gold in 
California, which of course very much increased 
the expense of supplies there. We have added a 
number of war steamers which we had not before. 
Yet, notwithstanding all this, the expenses of the 
Navy proper are scarcely an iota more than they 
were in 1841, and not so much as they were in 
1843- '44. 

Then I ask, what justification there is for speak- 
ing of abuses in expenditure, and calling upon the 
people to come to the rescue? 1 think the little 
restropect which I have given, will show the gen- 
tleman that he cannot have any hope of greater 
economy, even if the distinguished Senator from 
Michigan [Mr. Cass] should happen to come into 
power; or, if the distinguished Senator from Illi- 
nois [Mr. Douglas] should be called to guide the 
helm of State. I do not believe that any change 
will make things better. The truth is, things are 
so well now, that if there is any change at all, it 
must be for the worse. [Laughter.] And if the 
peopleare wise, they will " let well enough alone." 



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